Hello! It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. This one is one of those stories where real life has heavily inspired it! My poor brother was having a difficult time fixing his punctures during the first few weeks of when he took up cycling and his frustration and impatience reminded me of a certain someone who in the anime is known for having a bike. I was prompted to write this story and I enjoyed myself with it. It was so much fun to go back to writing the friendship of James and Misty in the early days - when he's just quit Team Rocket and the trio and "the twerps" are learning to tolerate and bond with each other. I hope you enjoy! :)
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned.
I sat on the floor with the pads of my feet being tickled by the sprigs of greenery below me and I felt the fresh Kanto air rushing into my lungs. Even back then I knew that that was some of the happiest, most peaceful moments of my existence. I often like to reminisce about a great many tales of my life as well as all of the people I have been lucky enough to surround myself with. Although this one is a story from the very beginning, it still burns like the hot summer sun in my mind. So we shall begin.
My eyelids were contented slits as I sat underneath the tree in the front garden of Mrs Ketchum and Ash's home, getting the most perfect shade to sun ratio I had ever known. The canals of my nostrils felt clearer than ever as with every inhale, I absorbed more of the regional air into me as well as relaxation. Yes, I was truly calm. And focused too!
I thought nothing was going to break me away from that moment of oneness with myself and nature. But I was proven to be incorrect. Something brought my attention away from the depths of myself almost as soon as I had this thought, like could sometimes coincidentally be the case. I can't say it was a sound. I can't say it was a noise at all. No, I was interrupted by chance. Then when I looked, I couldn't look away.
My vision practically the same shade as the grass beneath me from lingering in the partial sun for so long, I watched from a distance and could still see what was going on as clear as day. While I couldn't hear words at all from where I was sitting, it was faultlessly obvious the sort of interaction that was going on.
As Misty was on the other side of the garden to me, it was noticeable the way her brow grew further and further creased at the continual offers of help from Gary Oak to fix her bicycle tire. She tried to be reasonable at first. But the more that he persisted, the more impatient and crosser she got! And of course, Gary being Gary, he somehow liked getting this reaction from her. So he kept asking her.
I barely had enough time to shake my head at this and then my eyes had to adjust to what happened next as well as the fact my vision was slowly returning to normal. I still couldn't hear the words uttered but it was clear that Misty uttered very short and sharp ones! Good for her, I thought to myself.
Gary then at last came sauntering back, his hands at his pockets upon receiving the threat of her bicycle tyre going up where the sun very much did not shine. In spite of this, he still had his naturally cocky smirk tugging at his lips as he returned closer to me and not a look of remorse on his expression either.
I finally shook my head. I thought about trading my places with Gary when he stood slightly near me against the tree. But then I decided to give her more time, listening to the words that escaped from the auburn haired male's curved upward lips instead.
"What is her problem?" Gary's fingers found themselves to be roaming somehow effortlessly through his spiky locks. He also appeared to be talking to no one in particular. But when I decided to follow his eye sight rather than still watching onwards at my good friend, I understood his intention.
James was the person lingering against the same tree but on the opposite side and had headphones cupping around his ears and a book decorating the hold of his own hands. Because of these two things, naturally, he didn't hear a word that was being said. It goes without saying that Gary then made it be known that he had spoken.
"What?" James' voice came out a muffled mumble, not wanting the fact that he had just been playing loud music to himself to affect his usual tone of voice even after the younger male had nudged the tip of his sneakers into the side of his leg to get his attention.
Following his eye line then, I saw his eyes the color of a meadow widen even larger than normal and look up at the younger male, not having an entire clue why he was being interrupted.
Gary didn't hesitate to fill him in, his arms wandering and folding over his chest, the tip of his shoes then digging lightly into the mud between blades of grass.
"I said, what is her problem?" he repeated. James' reaction was an untouched piece of paper. He couldn't be sure what was going on, though he could very much guess who 'she' was. Gary's arms unfolded almost as quickly as they had crossed as he had to explain even further. "She was having a right go! Not letting me help her even though she's ruined her tire while trying to fix a puncture."
Ash's best friend then laughed aloud at the words he himself had said but he wasn't joined. James finally put his book down long enough to actually peer around the corner of the tree, studying the situation for himself.
His lips found each other and formed a line. The slant of his neck mirrored one of the tree branches at an angle hanging above. He acknowledged the way Misty was trying to squeeze the wheel of her bike with both hands in order to return it to working measure.
Then, he went back to minding his own business though, shrugging and picking up his book again. However, he did give Gary the time of day and his nonchalant gaze met the younger male's expectant one as he remained lingering by the tree and me.
"She can decide for herself when and if she requires help." Another shrug rolled off his shoulders and it caused a scoff to formulate in Gary's throat. For a rare occasion, James interjected before he could get more words in there, his thumb lightly hooked between the pages of his book. "Leave her be."
Somehow, he looking away after he said these words was far more powerful than if he had given him a lengthy and steady gaze. Even so, the same sort of reaction erupted from the Pokémon Researcher and he scoffed a second time.
He was clearly less than pleased by being told to mind his own business in a different way than using those words straight outright and used those sneakers of his to stomp along the grass, heading into the home of Delia for some of her refreshing lemonade.
"See if she'll let you help her then." Bitterness oozed from Gary so I was hopeful that my best friend's mother's lemonade would sweeten him up a bit!
My head rotated as I watched him flee the scene. James was, as always, unbothered. He shared a look with me that lasted only a second and then he shook his head, his eyes squinting together not being due to the sun as a tiny, single dimple appeared from the way he puckered his mouth together.
He told himself he would only offer his help if it was truly needed. He wanted to go back to his music. Yet when he decided to study Misty across the garden just one more time before returning back to his leisure time, he saw the way that her bike tire was trembling in both of her hands and almost threatened to being thrown across the lawn!
James decided he would at least check she was okay. And so, his headphones and his book was the only thing then left on the grass under the tree as the both of us headed to investigate.
I didn't stop myself from making my presence be known immediately, sitting on a tree stump very close to my good friend and nuzzling my nose against the bare pale skin of her arm. I wasn't afraid of her reaction. It was her lack of reaction that left me disappointed. But then again, I couldn't exactly blame her. She was in the middle of concentrating.
With eyes full of natural curiosity as well as to disguise some of my disappointment, I watched Misty holding just one of her bike tyres between both hands and at the same time, use those hands of hers to squeeze, attempting to get the outer tire to click in nicely.
But it just wouldn't go! And it was clear that it was remaining stubborn from the way that her hands shook the more that she tried to do it and her muffled groaning sounds changed to very obvious growls.
James too could see where the situation was heading. He found it instinctive to try and put a break in her wave of frustration.
"You okay there?" he asked, his turn to be the one with the lingering frame as he ran some fingers through his own locks, only then realising how warm the luscious rays of the sun had been.
Both he and I could hear the words screaming out from Misty's eyes when her head turned and she looked right at him – let alone when she actually came out with them, her nails almost digging into the outer tire of her bike.
"Does it look like I'm doing okay?!" she snapped and she was lucky to not cause her tire to pop from the way that she was gripping it so. Fortunately, the only breathy sounds I could hear were her exhaling in impatient disbelief rather than the tire oozing its own air.
James was as level as I had known him to be since he and his wife and Meowth too had departed Team Rocket. His lavender locks still surrounding his fingertips before they finally set free, his shoulders offered a shrug at the same time that his mouth offered words.
"I wouldn't know based on my vision. I've been over there reading." He explained, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards at the same time that his shoulders couldn't stop themselves from shrugging another time. Unintentionally, his head bobbed in the direction of the tree from which we had both arrived from.
Misty couldn't help but feel that the corner of his mouth moved in a far different way than Gary's had. And because of this, although all kinds of emotions were bubbling up inside her and they were not helped by the mid-afternoon sun, she dealt with James with a tad more patience.
"Well look now!" she told him out of habit. But then an expression washed over her like the last thing she wanted was the slope of his lips elevating as he gave her a lingering, studious look. Misty hurriedly added, air escaping her nostrils a second time. "I'm fine. I know what I'm doing. It's just not working."
James nodded. As I looked between them both, I'm sure that Misty was glad that he didn't utter words along the lines of 'that's the worst' or 'I hate when that happens'. I gathered she would've felt that he was only saying that to make her feel better and end up feeling worse.
It was a bit of a strange sensation for me and it surprised me each and every time that it happened when I was filled with gladness at the way that the lavender haired male was dealing with one of my closest friends. He had only just quit Team Rocket with Jessie for a better life for their children and was then living in the Ketchum Household thanks to an immensely kind offer from Delia.
I was barely used to feeling any sort of positive emotion surrounding him! But there and then, it was beginning to happen all the more frequently. And it was starting to feel a bit more… normal?
Shaking my head for a different and in private there and then, I had a turn myself of my own mouth lifting up at just the one corner. Life never ceased to surprise!
Misty did her best to ignore James still lingering there, standing next to her on the grass, his fingers then feeling the touch of his own chin rather than strands of silky lavender locks. I was left with none of my prior disappointment when I caught onto her glancing at me every so often to see a comforting and friendly face as she tried to fix things for herself.
At last I hopped away from the tree stump. I intended to help her. I didn't know what I was doing at all! But I wanted to help.
"All we gotta do is squeeze it and squeeze it and squeeze it and it's meant to slot right into the metal part." Misty explained to me equally as much as she reminded herself to give herself a boosting pep talk. She joined me down at my level and while she continued doing what she was meant to be doing, I observed and tried to catch on what she meant. "But it's not bloody well working!"
It is not an exaggeration to say I almost fell on the ground and the sudden outburst that came from Misty following her calming words to me. Even though her eruption was directed to herself and no one else, it still prompted this reaction within me.
Regaining my balance and letting out the quietest of breaths that I could, I could see that it prompted little to no reaction within James. I supposed that he was used to it with Jessie! Or maybe he was busy thinking. Maybe he was thinking what he was going to say or do next.
"It does get harder nearer to the end as it pulls tighter." He broke the silence. My eyes fell on him rather than the bike tire in both of Misty's hand and I nodded in agreement. That made sense. I very much hoped that my gaze was a lot different to the orange haired female who shot him a look that was most rude! "You could see if there's extra air to let out in there."
That look of exasperation from Misty that wordlessly told James he was pointing out the obvious continued all the longer. Then, she actually replied with words to what he had proffered to her.
"Funnily enough, I was about to do exactly that." she quipped, the bike tire lightly thudding down onto the grass below as she did indeed roll the cap of the valve between her thumb and forefinger to let out any extra air from it. I could feel from brushing my cheek near it that no extra air escaped.
Shame, I thought. It would've been quite refreshing following the loudness of the moment!
Needless to say, Misty's words were sarcastic and there was nothing humorous about any part of any of those moments. James took a step back but didn't flee the scene.
In spite of how he was being spoken to, he stayed close. I felt almost remorseful for thinking that he shouldn't have done that for Misty. But most parts of my mind were occupied by thinking I was glad that he wasn't put off.
It wasn't her fault. Many people left before. She was used to it. She hadn't been taught that sort of thing. She hadn't been taught fixing bikes herself either. She was very harsh on herself. But incredibly sweet to me. She showed this by her hand lulling on the top of my head after it fell away from twisting the valve.
My mouth became an upside down rainbow shape. I was happy to be there. And I was happy that she was glad I was there too.
"This is actually a really tricky task so I think you're doing really well." James told Misty as he hovered over her, still standing on the grass, his arms then hugging over his chest and absorbing some of the rays.
Unfortunately, his timing was far from the best. It was regrettable the way he chose to say it as she was having a break and petting me and he decided to catch her off guard by complimenting her – she was barely used to my best friend offering kindness to her and boosting her confidence without throwing another male into the mix.
Her cheeks grew flushed in a way that was not down to sunburn and her pupils filled with a degree of hostility. Her neck could've cricked with the speed in which it snapped to look in James' direction.
"Funnily enough…" she started and already, it was clear that whatever words she was going to say after her brief pause was going to be the opposite of filled with gratitude. "I don't need you being my personal cheer leader right now." A second pause. Her fire did not cease. It spread. "Will you just go back where you came from?!"
It is my personal belief that no one had ever dealt with her the way that she was dealt with there and then. Like I said before, James was well practiced coming against passionate characters.
His expression not twitching an inch as he listened to her words, he then bobbed his shoulders up and down, his arms parting ways with his chest as he did so. James complied. He prepared to turn on his heel.
The ex Team Rocket member did what he was asked. And I wondered if it was him leading by example like this would cause Misty to go on and be a bit more reasonable. I was certain that it was the case and caused her to have a complete change of heart. In fact, it was a full 180.
"Wait…" her voice escaped from her lips before she could drag it back and it caused her demeanor to need a minute or two to catch up. James swiveled back around. Misty didn't look up at him straight away as she lingered by crouching on the grass next to me. She cleared her throat before finally forcing himself to look at him as she added to her previous uttering. "You could sit there if you wanted. But only to keep Pikachu company."
It was that instant that I knew I needed to become a better wing man when my eyes became like saucers and my head turned towards James in the same way that his did towards mine! I needed to get better at going along with things. I needed to get better at playing it cool like James did. But then again, he had had years of practice being in a criminal organization.
Recovering from his momentary stare far quicker than I did, he decided to comply with Misty's words and sit down on the tree stump that my bottom had previously been perched against. His legs in his jeans the same color as the sky stretched out and I still took a moment or two before perching on his knees.
"Sounds okay." He said with a smile but not one that was trying to win anybody over. I wondered whether if he knew that if he had quirked up his lips in that way, Misty could've been persuaded to join his previous antics a long time ago! "Just give me a shout when and if you need help."
James added at the same time that his arms fell behind him, his palms pressing against the blanket of green below to keep himself upright. He also added at the same time that I joined him by perching on both of his knees.
Because I was doing this, I missed the expression that Misty gave to the older male. However, in hindsight he described it so I don't feel like I was missing out on anything!
"I don't need anybody's help." A stubborn insisting came from Misty and her nose flew into the air like an invisible string from the heavens above was pulling it in their direction. I looked back at her in just enough time to see the last second or so of her expression.
Her brows were still close together while her nose dropped down again as she needed it to look down at her bike tire while she worked at it.
James' fingers had sense been roaming along and tickling along my spine but then they moved to my ears, waggling them very gently but playfully all the same to accompany the words he would go on to say. He finally took a chance by flashing Misty a smile.
"You need to have ears like this one." He told her, immediately causing her brows to close the distance with each other a second time and her to briefly look in his direction. James added, me seeing him from an upside down angle as I stretched my neck to look behind me. "I said when and if."
Silence. How could Misty reply to that? She couldn't, really. He wasn't offended by how little she wanted help. He didn't encourage her to change her mind. He was just there. She had to be glad, hadn't she? She had to at least by the tiniest bit impressed, didn't she?
I couldn't tell. She had the poker face of a professional as she didn't say any words in response at all and proceeded with trying to fix her bike tyre for another time. I could kid myself that I could imagine all the thoughts whirring through her mind like when she spun the wheel of her bicycle to check the gears so clearly that I began to think I could hear them too.
Misty was remembering all the bits of advice she had received here and there about mending her bicycles. She reminisced on the advice of Nurse Joys. There had been plenty of tidbits there! She tried to visualize videos that she had watched.
And so, she attempted to fix her bike tire by herself, her hand clamping around it as she tried to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze it into place. It was frustrating work even for me just watching and not being able to offer a single ounce of help.
The more that it got into the right place at one end, the more that it popped out of the other. Such tedious and tiring work – no wonder that she had been frustrated before. And no wonder she was still feeling her temple throbbing as well as her cheeks as she was feeling like she was getting little to nowhere.
Groans began to escape her lips. She popped the cap back onto the air valve like that was going to suppress her sounds. Of course it wasn't. Then, a full growl of frustration finally happened! And it was accompanied by not only a lot of swearing but the bike tire falling from her grip and somehow ended up a few meters across the garden.
James managed to ignore her brute force and listened to her words instead.
"Of all the things that I could have been taught…" Misty paused, not reaching to go and collect her tire just yet but her fingers locking and clamping as though it was in her hold once more. Catching her breath, she pushed her bangs from her vision. "I've never got a proper lesson on this."
To this day I am impressed that so early on in their little dynamic – with Misty still unsure whether she trusted him or not so soon after ripping that big red 'R' off his chest – that he appeared to understand what she didn't say as much as she did say.
I filled my vision with James once more but he didn't reciprocate. However, I imagined his fingers tightening around the blades of grass tickling between his digits but only a fraction.
Granting Misty the grace of fetching her tire again without judgment, he waited until she was nearer to us both again before thoughtfully replying.
"Well, don't hold it against him the one thing that he didn't do for you." He spoke aloud, his voice of a similar quality to when he had first replied to Gary, not wanting to be too loud after being absorbed in his world of music. He continued in the same way, unaware of the flinch that rippled through Misty's body. "There must be one lesson you can think of that could help you now?"
She had to recover from the momentary almost static like feeling because she had been asked a question. She couldn't tell whether the weak feeling running through her bones was the wound that had not only been suspected but opened by the lavender haired male – or tiredness from working at fixing her bike for so long.
Misty chose not to dwell on it either way. It was true she had a question to answer. But the other thing wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world for her to focus on.
"Logic and pace. Patience too." she answered after thinking to herself and I knew that I wasn't making things up the level of hesitance that came from her. I pressed my lips together but I did not smile. Still, I had my own wave rippling through me and that was fondness.
I knew how much room her parents took up in her heart even if she didn't like to discuss them with many people. Sometimes not even Ash. I was glad to be around to hear that. I was glad to be one of the people who truly knew her. I would have to get used to the positive tickling sensation in my belly that James was one of those people as well.
In spite of the fact that he didn't nod his head or really even react much at all following Misty's answer, she did. In actuality, she reacted enough for the both of them.
I heard a repeat of those words be muttered under her breath and then she nodded her head to herself, getting down to business once more.
Logic, pace and patience. Patience, logic and pace. Pace, logic and patience. That would be her mantra. That would be what led her to success. If she was going to do anything that day then she was going to succeed in fixing her bike tire all by herself. And she was going to reap in the glory of the knowledge that she could do anything that she put her mind to – all by herself.
Deciding to take a big risk, she took it upon herself to unclip the outer tire all the way in order to stare again from the beginning. It was true that she had been so near. But she felt as though she had been so far.
However, with the advice running through her mind that she did accept, she felt like she could do a lot better of a job and end up with it easier towards the end unlike the last time.
Staring the opposite end of the valve, she started to clip it back on and actually did quite well. I really did my best in hiding my eyes becoming the same shape of the sun in the Kanto sky but I couldn't help but feel taken aback at how well it started.
Taking a moment to look away from Misty, I looked down at my own paws. I didn't know how her hands were succeeding and gripping like that! They were working hard. They were working sturdily. They were working determinedly. I felt in my heart that she was going to succeed and she was going to succeed fast.
Nothing could have prepared me for the plummet that was threatening to loom over my being. And nothing could have prepared me for the wave of protection that engulfed me like a tsunami.
You see, Delia's refreshing home-made lemonade in the pitchers and poured into a glass with a hunk of lemon on the side hadn't done the greatest job in sweetening up Gary Oak. It had made him smile a lot more than when he had left to be sure! But he was still his same old self as he lingered on the porch.
"Finally getting somewhere, are we?" he called across the greenery to of course Misty, his hand lifting upwards towards his mouth to wipe away any residue of lemonade that he believed to be there.
When his hand fell away again, a smirk was revealed. A full reveal that was like a solar eclipse. And that's what caused someone to snap. It wasn't Misty who thundered, instead reacting by feeling the color both draining from her cheeks and blotching certain areas so they resembled my own.
James snapped in the quietest yet most lethal way that I had seen in my life! His neck might've cricked beyond repair from the way that he shot Gary a look. Even from him being directly behind me and out of my line of vision, I could feel his body contorting and moving and knew that his nostrils were flaring to accompany the look of sheer disappointment and no-messing in his eyes.
And for once, Gary Oak got that message! He scurried along and headed back indoors, that time probably for a glass of drink to quench him from the fiery wrath of James Morgan. It had been unleashed. But it had been unleashed in the way he shared it during that time in his life. With utter silence. And I had to say that that was the scariest!
Misty was none the wiser. For good or for bad, she was none the wiser. Deciding to hop down from James' legs to allow him to have them closer to his body once more as his face regained its usual hollow yet soft cheeked composure; I started to feel like it did sway closer to the side of being for bad rather than good.
From her point of view, Gary had come out to check and had sneered and then had to head back inside for a private but very real and obvious hooting laughter session when he realized that she was even less far along than she had been when he had been the one to offer his company.
She lost control of holding the bike tires all over again and this time it just dropped downwards. She didn't care that it bashed against her toes in her own trainers. This wasn't why her cheeks flushed even warmer than mine and tears threatened to prick the corners of her eyes.
She tried to hide the real reason with all of her might.
"Why can't I just do this all by myself?!" she snapped towards herself. Naturally, the way that she spoke towards herself and herself alone caused the tears to more vehemently prick though she tried to blink fiercely like it was the weather causing her to do that instead. "How useless am I? How was I let out on a journey as a kid?"
James and I shared a look and to this day I feel bad that we acted on that instinct. Though we hurriedly looked away again, the gulping sound that followed from Misty made it obvious that she had been wounded by our need to do this and even more so by our inclination to quickly hide it.
It was true that Misty had always turned to a Nurse Joy for help with her bike because she didn't really have anybody else to ask. That had never really bothered her that much, not really. But I supposed that now she was at the end of her teenage years and she was in a relationship and held a good many achievements to her name that she was still baffled to have under her belt, she felt like there was no room for excuses.
No matter her past. No matter her future. No matter what. If she couldn't put her bicycle back together, then what? What else was she good for? A great deal, of course. It was not the be all or end all. But in that moment it was to her. So it was for me too. And James in a way.
"No excuses." Her words then echoed the thoughts that I knew she was thinking. Looking at her and not looking away, I saw her from an angle as she attempted to inadvertently absorb some of the lavender haired male's calmness and composure and the lessons she had been taught. "I'll be here until the sun goes down if I must. I must do this alone."
James had had had enough. At long last. For another time, I was left somewhat impressed by his ability to lose his cool in the most level headed way. Despite his composure, he was visibly rattled and brushed the wrong way from Misty's determination to do things alone. I supposed he knew what it meant to be part of a team. Even if that Team as a questionable one!
At last, he couldn't stop his eyes from rolling and he was lucky it had gone unnoticed by Misty or he would not have had those rolling eyeballs of his left.
"Do you realize how screwed I would be if I didn't ask for help?" he questioned aloud. He might've well said anything because Misty was too focused on being determined in succeeding the mission that she had set herself to really catch on. She only caught up and turned her head when James added, his hair cascading around his face as his head shook. "If I turned away my grandparents help when I ran away from home?"
Maybe that second choice of words was a wrong one. He hadn't been trying to sweeten her up by relating to her though, contrary to the expression that laced her face after she had heard it. It was merely just the first example that came to mind.
The first thought that came to Misty's mind, she expressed. Practically turning her back on him, she made sure there was no air left in the valve of her tyres before proceeding in trying to squeeze the outer ring back onto it.
"I didn't ask you for help." She pointed out. I heard the way her voice practically mirrored the mundane tones that James' could sometimes possess and it caused just the one ear of mine to prick up. Then, her jaw clenched together as she concentrated on getting herself where she needed to be, she added. "This isn't about you, James."
I'm sure that she wasn't prepared when she heard his voice promptly. But either way, the expression on her face didn't let on.
"No." he began and I turned to look at him, my face definitely paying creed to way that I wasn't expecting him to reply without hesitation. I could continue to have eyes the roundness of Misty's bike tires the more that time went on. "This is about your bike and your bike alone. And how damn difficult doing that is at the best of times." His hands did the talking as well as his mouth. He pointed to her beloved red bicycle. "Especially when you're harder on yourself."
In that moment, I could almost imagine the wheel being thrown and lopping his head off! I would miss him.
Thankfully, this did not occur. The circumference of Misty's eyes then matched my own as she couldn't believe that she was being spoken to like that! After all those years, she still couldn't handle it in return.
Her voice proved her disapproving dismay.
"I'm making it harder for myself?" she repeated. James nodded. He allowed silence to be the only thing that sounded for a couple of moments as he shuffled on his bottom, daring to move closer to her.
Eventually, his head continually danced up and down, and out came more words.
"Yup." He had half a moment to push his hair from his eyes and then both of his hands formed a gesture. His gesture was informing her a better way to do things. "Use the heel of your hand rather than your fingers. More strength there. Way more strength."
Up close, he could see how the tips of her fingers had practically become the twin shade of the hair on his head. I was glad that he had offered a piece of advice but because of this, I felt that he should have offered it sooner. But then again, he didn't really have much of a chance did he? He would have got utterly pulverized. Or so I thought.
It was shown to both James and I there and then that apparently – despite making it known that she didn't like to ask for help – she seemed to accept it well when it was disguised in the form of sass.
It was true that her expression scrunched up with scientism at the pointers that were offered to her. But after trying it out for just a couple of seconds and getting a handle on using her hand in that way, even she had to admit that it was a whole lot easier.
While annoyingly more of the tire popped out the more that she popped in elsewhere, I could see that she was privately relieved to at least have a new tactic. That would lift her hopes up for at least a couple more minutes.
In actual fact, it lifted her spirits enough to talk to James while she tried to fix her bicycle in her own way but with both his and her father's advice lending support to her endeavor. Her hand still squeezing and tugging and fitting, an arch formed in her brow when his own hand even latched onto her bike to show her exactly how to do it – even though she had copied him very well.
"And how exactly would you know how to do something like this?" she questioned. However, self-aware as always, she heard that her words might have been construed as suspiciousness over his former villainous self and suspecting that he was trying to lead her on a wild goose chase. She hurriedly yet gracefully elaborated. "I thought hot air balloons were more your thing than bicycles. Since your bike gang days, at least."
A twinkle in her eye for the first time that day. It went unnoticed by James but not by me. Still, his hand fell away from her bike tire once more and I read this as coincidence rather than offense or anything else.
It was his turn to have his brows draw together. He was clearly thinking. He was clearly pondering. Then, a mirror image happened and it was a diamond in his own pupil revealing itself just as Misty's started to hide away once more.
His body recoiled and grooved in a way that suggested it was embarrassing and he didn't like to tell. This of course made Misty all the more eager! It made her eager for the first time that day.
Probably glad to see a change in mood, James decided to tell her.
"I had a very, very, very, very brief job in between Team Rocket missions one time where I worked at a bicycle repair shop." He confessed. The light appearing back in Misty's eyes and not due to the sun, James clearly felt that he hadn't insisted on this point enough. "Very, very brief."
I watched as although Misty had previously been determined to get her endeavor completed with little to no breaks, she took the smallest one there and then but she actually did take a break, briefly folding her legs together closer to her body and for a second resting her chin down on her knee.
Her smirk matched with the glint in her eyes. Her head tilted so it was then her cheek that was felt by her knee cap.
"Oh really? And what made you leave such a prestigious job?" she replied. She was no fool. She had caught on to the way that he had hinted at something so she was determined to get all the more information out of him just like she had fished out the previous load!
Her stance was copied, his hands in his lap rather than wrapped around his own legs. He encouraged his eyes to become slanted slits to hide any remnant of a sparkle that was in his own eye. He made silence be the only thing that spoke its truth at first. But then he did too.
"I was asked to leave." The words came honestly and levelly. Though Misty knew there would be more to come that would tickle her and so she waited. Not that she ever let on, but she liked the way that he told stories. And she would like this one. "I did a repair for this one kid and as he was cycling away from the shop after what I thought was a repair well done, his front wheel shot off and needless to say he ended up in a heap in the middle of the road."
One pause. A pause where Misty's legs untucked and she prepared to continue work on her bike – and hopefully doing a better job than James in his past.
"And needless to say you were fired." Misty concluded for James so he didn't have to. I noticed the way in which he nodded and copied her position on the grass once again. I also watched the way that while she didn't fill the air with laughter, amused sort of sounds decorated her words. I didn't laugh either and instead I smiled. It would widen even more in the next few minutes. "Perhaps you should've asked help with it."
Silence. Silence and a pause. James bit on his own lower lip and contemplated. But subconsciously absorbing her actions and performing them himself as well, he looked right at her and decided to be as upfront as she had lead by example.
"See? It's something we all have to do." He pointed out. He was not frightened. He was not fearful. He was not regretful. It was a risk, maybe. But he didn't see it as such. He knew that she reacted in loud and volumes ways because she felt as though she had to.
He didn't take it as his own personal mission but without trying to, he showed her a different way. And funnily enough – genuinely funnily enough – she would do the same for him too when he found himself growing heated.
She was shown a different way alright. She was shown a whole different way. She was shown someone staying while also not tolerating her single way of thinking. She was shown someone offering help even without her accepting. She was shown someone offering help and leaving it up to her whether she took it or not.
So at last, Misty accepted that metaphorical outreaching of a hand. Pushing her hair from her eyes, her bottom shuffling her backwards did the talking before her mouth did as well.
"Help me for the last little bit then. I want to get it done by the end of the day." She asked. She couldn't quite meet his line of vision. Nevertheless, her lip did quirk out the tiniest amount as she placed with her bangs some more.
And because of this, James' lips didn't hesitate to quirk up the full amount as he grabbed hold of her bike with both hands, and taught her along the way, offering her last few points as he squeezed and poked and rubbed and eventually slotted the entirety of the bike into place.
It wasn't easy for him either. It apparently wasn't a very straightforward thing to do at the best of times. But I guessed it was a worthwhile one. Maybe that was why James helped her out so. He knew that it wasn't just about fixing a bike. It was about Misty being able to maintain and even nurture that little thing that was freedom and was adventure in a shiny red frame and white handlebars.
It was the same for him and his hot air balloon when he was in Team Rocket. It was the same for him and for a lot of things when he moved away from that path in life. He understood without being pointed in the direction of understanding. Just like he helped without it needing to be asked of him until the end.
I'm sure it was a great relief when it was finally done. And I know it was a great relief when it was done and dusted and a huge song and dance wasn't made out of it. Before he could be thanked in Misty's own way though, James hopped up off the grass and he held the bike by the handle bars as he put it back in standing position with the wheel back on as well.
He asked permission before doing anything else.
"Let me just give it a once over. You'll want to keep your distance before all Misty's efforts are futile." He shot me a very clear look. I knew there was humor there. I knew there was lightness there. But still, I reacted with defensiveness!
It had been an accident. He may have quit the organization but I didn't like how a member of Team Rocket knew about that mistake of my life.
Nonetheless, Misty shared a look with that previous Team Rocket member and she finally laughed, her hand cupping over her mouth before all of her chuckles escaped into the ether. She took a step back and let him check that everything was up and running smoothly. It was.
Pushing her pride to one side, she tried to ignore her inclination for her cheeks to appear as red as the frame of her bike. Misty stepped behind James as he gave one last, almost admiring look at the bicycle that was a twin in color to his own motorcycle.
Feeling as though it was not the most natural thing in the world but doing it anyway, her hand reached out and her fingers gently brushed at the round of his shoulder. It turned him around immediately. She spoke out before she fully grew flustered at his kind gaze looking down at her.
"Thank you." She said to him. She knew her words didn't come out the most comfortably. But she hoped her saying them was the important thing. It was. And judging by the head tilt that came following them as well as the even softer stare that came from his full, tall height, it had been well received too. "How… How can I thank you? What can I do?"
Once more, she inwardly kicked herself how robotically and unnaturally her words came. For the first time in her life, she didn't want to be seen as an ungrateful or an unkind person. For the first time in her life, the last thing she wanted was to be thought those things by James.
I watched as, of course, this didn't cross his mind at all. Feeling the lingering of her touch as well as inwardly acknowledging how she spoke to him in this way even though it was difficult, James' lips pressed together more into a line than a smile as he thought.
He really thought about it. Then the light bulb moment happened. He had had to think. But when it danced across his mind, it was obvious.
James shrugged the shoulder that had previously felt her touch for the first time. His head tilted a little more, his lavender locks cascading further down and framing his youthful looking features. He reached his hand out back. And unlike Misty's, his touch lingered rather than just the sensation.
"Just… Just help me out next time I get stuck with something. That's all you need to do." He told her. His eyes smiled more than his mouth did. But then his lips did too. They both quirked up evenly on the same side. He nodded his head too.
And with that, he was gone. He was moving on to the next thing. He was moving on to the next section of his day. And without realizing it, he was moving on to making the next impact in his life.
I watched the previous impact that he had made – I couldn't help myself. From observing back on the tree stump all over again and thinking of all that I could see, I couldn't refrain from noticing that Misty stood there, almost paused.
She seemed rather confused. She seemed a little bit taken aback. That seemed far too simple. Was that all she needed to do? Yes, that was all she needed to do.
Copying her new friend's occasional head shake, she brushed all of this overthinking away. She could do that. She could most definitely do that. Secretly, she felt that she should do more. But that was a start.
Moving on to her next moment of her day too, she wheeled her bike over to lean against the exterior wall of the house so she could brush it down and clean it for the next adventure. The next moment of freedom.
As James was in the kitchen and was visible by the window right next to where Misty and her bike were leaning, it was unbeknownst to him the level of freedom he had instilled in her to learn to accept help. It was something that had been learnt by me too. And at the very least recognised. And most certainly remembered.
Thanks to people like him, it was reaffirmed to me just as it was taught to Misty for one of the first few times that asking for help from people didn't make you weak. If you went through life doing everything by yourself then you might be independent, it is true. But you also could have no people to share those moments of vulnerability and even weakness with.
Don't turn down help when you wouldn't think less of those who ask it who aren't yourself. We always can be extra harsh on ourselves but it doesn't need to be the case. We must always offer ourselves help. We must always offer ourselves a break.
We must sit in the knowledge of how much we can achieve. But we must also be content with not only how much we can teach and elevate – but be taught and elevated ourselves too.
Isn't that what life is about? Getting through it together? I remember that more and more each day that I am lucky to experience with my loved ones. I remember all of these lessons laid out for me. And the stories that come from them too.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 I often write about the stronger characters of mine and native to the anime more mellowed out and older so it was fun to tackle Misty's teenage fire once again! I really do think that although her romantic relationship with Ash does encourage her to be more vulnerable and soft at times, it is James who makes her feel comfortable with being that way. Like I said, I had fun with this one so I hope it came across that way :) Thanks again and I will be back on the 28th with The Diary of Baby Rey so see you then!
Amy signing out.