True Love... or something.
Disclaimer: Pokèmon does not belong to me... if it did, I think
that show would have been scary...
Well, this story is old, and when I started on it I had somewhat
normal views on rocketshipping. It isn't like that anymore, but I
wrote it anyway, mostly just to get it off my mind. Which is the
reason it's crappy, and sort of ooc. Why so? Yes, because I
honestly can't imagine James actually doing that.
I also think I actually had a sensible reason for having Tracey
in it once upon a time, too, but that was long ago forgotten, and
he's still stuck here, most because of the end moral.
And because Charizard is the scariest pokèmon Ash ever had and
because I actually live in a place where he still hasn't gone to
the valley of wind or whatever to live happily forever and ever
with Charizard chicks he's still here.
Rating: Pg-13. Swearing, sexual moral discussions and a fight
that has very little to do with "just being afraid of
getting hurt if showing true emotions", the usual
rocketshipper excuse.
********
Team Rocket wasn't the easiest place to have a decent love life.
Not only were all your colleagues criminals, which didn't demand
any high morals about things such as "sex",
"love", "save yourself for your wedding
night", "only do it with somebody you truly love"
or "at least make sure they are single", but since they
also were equally evil and, at least supposedly, heartless, the
chance for finding somebody that bothered to fall in love with
you, admit that they were in love with you, or promise they
wouldn't sleep with anybody else was microscopic. Of course, most
had their permanent sex partners, and even some that kissed each
other and held hands in public, but true love was a rarity, and
it actually didn't help your social status either. An evil
organization wanted evil members, and denounce truth and love was
one of its purposes, and it did succeed.
The point was anyway that "being in love and admit that you
are" and "working in Team Rocket" were two terms
that did so not match.
Which was why James was a depressed young man at the moment.
Beside having the worst rumor when it came to "be in sexual
denial" and the only ones that cared to hit on him were
fifteen-year old boys that was trying to figure out what side
they were on, he also had a deep longing for something more than
just find somebody alone like yourself, do it, and then go
home... James wanted true love.
Which was found in about the same amounts as truth in Team
Rocket.
But the sad thing with the story wasn't only that James wanted
true love; if he were desperate enough he'd just quit. No, the
sad thing was that James also was madly in love with his partner,
and wanted true love from her.
This might not seem as bad as it really was, and it probably
wouldn't have been either for most 20-year old men; since you
straight out where expected to sleep with your partner and never
believed if you denied it unless you or your partner was gay
(half of that problem was almost solved), Jesse and James did
have quite a normal Team Rocket partnership. But James wanted
MORE than just the occasional "two single people that are
best friends of different genders and expected to sleep together
anyway" sex from her, but he did not know how to get it...
if it even was possible. Sure, sometimes she had her crying fits
about how nobody loved her, but how did she think somebody could
confess love for a person that would accuse you for "only
want one thing"? And besides, knowing his partner and her
violent tendencies, James wasn't even going to try.
So he had done something he never in his wildest imagination
since the day he ran away from his fiancé: He had bought a ring.
That was truly desperate, but James did truly love her, and a
proposal might just be what she needed to take him seriously.
But that had been half a year ago, and every time James had tried
to work up enough courage to ask her he had come up with at least
twenty good reasons not to, and he was at the exact same spot as
when he had bought it, except now Butch had hit on him after a
tequila contest in a dimly lit club. In drag.
No, things in James's life weren't the way he wanted them to be,
and with his partners away in shower and cafeteria after another
day of attempts to steal Pikachu he had a bit of time on his own,
reasonably spent on looking out of the window and feeling sorry
for himself. The sun, about to set, made the ring hanging from
his fingertip in front of this eyes spark, and he wondered why
he'd kept it at all. It wasn't like he'd ever do it or
anything...
It had been a dream, he realized, a stupid daydream about how she
would love him just because of it. But of course she wouldn't...
and the ring was just a symbol of what he'd never have. Sighing,
he let it slid down his gloved finger, and then down to the very
tip again... and then in a burst of self-pity, caught it in the
palm and threw it away.
Fortunately, or maybe not, fate wanted a certain trio, for the
occasion of this fanfiction a quartet, to pass by just then.
"Yow!" Brock exclaimed and rubbed his head, "What
was that?"
Tracey raised up again, holding a small golden item, "A
ring."
"It's pretty..." Brock said when he got it handed to
him. He had it for about two seconds before Misty snatched it.
"Aww..." she got a dreamy look, "Perhaps it is a
rejected lover who..."
"Chucked it out the window? They're probably just fighting
or something, I mean..."
"You have no idea of what you're talking about, Ash
Ketchum!" she snapped, "The poor man..."
"Misty, that can be more or less anybody. For all we know, a
thief getting rid of evidence, or a girl who's boyfriend cheated
at her, or..." Tracey stopped talking after realizing that
one more word would make his dead come very painful and very
soon.
The four of them kept on looking at it for a while, but after
five minutes when nobody came out looking for it and a brief
argument about who was going to keep it they left for the
pokèmon center, the ring safe in Brock's vest pocket.
"Tracey?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think Nurse Joy will marry me?"
"You mean if she'll marry you if you just walk right up to
her and propose to her in public?"
Brock nodded eagerly, and Tracey drew a deep breath.
"Well Brock, I'm sure it would be a sweet and affectionate
thing to do and a nice way to show her that you love her, but
honestly... no." he replied. Brock looked disappointed, and
Tracey patted his back.
"You'll find love someday, I'm sure. But it's just not worth
going on every girl you can to see if she's the right one.
Believe me, you'll know it is her when you meet her." He
said. Brock leaned back in the sofa and sighed.
"But when will I meet her? It's not like I haven't searched,
or..." his voice trailed of.
Tracey didn't know what to say, "Well...you know... there
are lots of people out there who could love you... just give
yourself some time. Or something." He sighed himself and
looked away, his mind taken into tracks like when he would find
love himself.
"Do you think we'll ever find true love?" Brock asked
with a tiny voice.
"Nope." Tracey replied and bit is bottom lip not to
cry. They looked at each other and was just an inch from breaking
down in a good old Team Rocket fashioned collective crying fit
when their female companion came in and sat down in front of the
TV that for some unknown reason was in the pokèmon center.
"Why isn't the sound on?!" she snapped and yanked the
remote from Brock to turn it up.
"Because it is old re-runs of Friends?"
"It is when Chandler proposes to Monica!"
"Haven't you seen that about 50 times before?" Ash
asked and sat down as well. Misty rolled her eyes at all three of
the boys.
"You guys just don't understand romance!" she growled
and turned the volume further up, and all her three companions
groaned.
The next day James started regretting the actions of the previous
night. Not only had he started to look slightly more optimistic
on his life, but he had also remembered how much he actually had
paid for that ring, and had, after considering the value of it in
both ways, decided to find it again. It was most likely that
somebody else had found it, but he wasn't going to give up all
hope. Just not yet...
Misty was having a few problems with her travelling companions.
Ash wasn't morning person, that was for sure, but today both
Brock and had Tracey denied to leave bed because they were
convinced they would never find true love. She had tried to tempt
them with food, but the only thing she managed was to get Brock
up to do it for her so she wouldn't ruin his new frying pan, and
Tracey at last reluctantly followed suit.
The smell of food woke Ash too, and they ate breakfast in
silence, mostly because both Brock and Tracey looked very, very
depressed and silent and Ash still wasn't quite out of sleep and
kept yawning constantly.
Then, after devouring the food, fighting over the dishwashing,
loosing, fighting some more with Ash, backhand him to the floor,
trying to make the two older boys to cheer up and fail and at
last being peeved enough at them to make Ash drag her out she was
now trudging through Viridian city with him. Nobody said anything
except the occasional "Togeprrriii!" her baby pokèmon
chirped, and she was seriously considering to pick a fight just
to get something to do when she noticed that somebody was
crawling around in the dirt where they had found the ring last
night. And not only somebody, it was James of Team Rocket.
Now, Misty was a girl, a teenager girl, and no matter how much
her companion's brain was a bit slow at times hers wasn't.
"What are you looking for?" she asked him excitedly and
clamped a hand over Ash's moth. And she could as well have
started bouncing up and down when he, without taking the eyes
from the pavement replied:
"A golden ring... have you seen it?"
Back at the place where the good guys had spent the night Brock
and Tracey were, when most other guys (at least those who
couldn't allow themselves to lay down and cry like little girls)
would buy a Playboy or go to some bar and get totally wasted,
taking the girl way out of heart problems: consuming large
quantities of chocolate and watching Titanic, cry their eyes out
already at the point when Jack showed Rose how to spit, surrender
to the testosterone a few seconds as the boat goes down with all
the cool special effects and then sob helplessly into appropriate
hankies when the credits start rolling along with "My heart
will go on".
"Do we have any more videos?" Tracey asked to when
silence crept into the room. Brock walked over to his backpack
and started throwing out various items.
"Independence day..."
"Too many UFOs."
"Bambi..."
"Too cute."
"Scream..."
"Too creepy."
"Romeo + Juliet..."
"Too sad."
"The Lion King..."
"What the hell is a lion?"
"The Lord of the Rings..."
"Is that out yet?"
"I don't know..." He had now emptied all backpacks and
picked up the last tape, a plain home-recorded one and read the
label, "SB. BaM's W?" he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't have a clue." Tracey replied and took it.
After a brief investigation he handed it back to Brock,
"It's Misty's so... probably something mushy romance
thing."
Brock nodded, and three seconds later the two of them was seated
beside each other eagerly waiting got the snow in the beginning
to lapse over into action.
"A church..." Brock said breathlessly.
"...a bride...." Tracey added.
"... pretty bridesmaids...."
"...handsome groom..."
"...cute vicar..." Brock didn't notice what he said.
"...evil twin brother..."
"...supposed dead ex-wife with amnesia..."
They slowly removed their eyes from the TV to gaze at each other.
"This is Sunset Beach, isn't it?" Brock said. Tracey
nodded dumbly and slowly reached for the remote. But just as he
was to press the stop-button they heard the deep and British
accented voice belonging to Ben Evans say "I do."
And once more they were lost in romance. They sat in silence for
a while, and then Brock declared:
"That ring was an omen! I'm getting married!"
"What is wrong with her?" The young man asked the boy
who was now holding a nervous looking Togepi.
"I don't have a clue...." Ash replied and took a step
backwards.
"It was you!" Misty sighed and clasped her hands
together.
"I didn't do anything!" James replied nervously and
desperately tried to recall everything that had happened since
the last time he saw them.
"You were the rejected lover!" she continued.
"And he is also a thief that possibly was getting rid of
evidence, like Tracey said..." Ash added.
"No, he is a rejected lover!"
"Thief!"
"Rejected lover!"
"Thief!"
"Rejected lover!"
"Thief!"
James scratched his head and discovered that Meowth stood beside
him looking at the two fighting kids along with Pikachu.
"Pika chu pikahu?" Pikachu asked Meowth and pointed at
James.
"I'd say the rejected lover."
"Pika?"
"He just thinks so himself. Well of course he might be
right, but..."the cat shrugged, "You know, if he just
got himself to do it there would be no problem, but he's too much
of a wimp to dare it, I assure you."
"Chu?"
"Not in a million years."
"Chu! Chuchuchu!"
"Yeah riiiiiight...." He rolled his eyes.
"PikaCHA!" the mouse angry cried and thundershocked
Meowth.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?"
"Chupika?"
Meowth studied him for a few seconds, and mirrored the grin as
they shook paws.
"You're on!"
By now all the three trainers were staring at them.
"Pikachu, did you just take a bet with Meowth?" Ash
asked. His pokèmon nodded, and the hugged James's leg, making
both his trainer and thief glare at him. Ash glared, anyway,
James prayed this wouldn't be the start of a nasty thundershock.
"He bet that he'll manage to get Jess to agree to marry him
by this evening." Meowth explained. Misty got starry eyes.
Ash looked confused.
"Pikachu, do you really think Jesse will marry you?"
Misty, James, Meowth and Pikachu all looked equally depressed at
this, and Ash looked even more confused when Misty raised an
eyebrow at him. Togepi chirped in his arms. He thought for a few
seconds more, and then blushed.
"Oh."
He started to look uncomfortable and placed Togepi back in
Misty's care and picked up Pikachu instead.
"You know, I didn't know you liked girls!" he told
James, "But if you do I just gotta wish you luck, because if
it is Jesse you'll probably need it." he said and started to
walk away, and came about five steps before Misty grabbed him by
the jacket and yanked him back.
"What?!" he cried at her. She just pointed at James who
had started to walk back inside with the head hanging low between
his shoulders.
"James, wait!" she cried and ran after him, and put a
hand on his shoulder. The gesture made him turn and give her a
hopeless look.
"No, he's right. I don't have a chance with her. Not with
her..." he sighed and looked away and started to walk again.
"But..."
He had turned around and looked straight at her, "I am me,
she is Jesse, at the moment she hates everything about me and I
don't even have the ring... what are the odds?"
She looked at him for a while, and he sighed once more and turned
to leave, just to get yanked back by his ear.
"This is a romantic proposal with a rejected lover, and I
DENY to let it go!" Misty screamed at him, making Ash,
Meowth and Pikachu hide behind a garbage can as Togepi started to
cry.
"Really, I don't need..." James started nervously.
"I'm a romantic by heart and I know when I see true
love!" she sternly told him. Ash looked up from behind the
can.
"This isn't our problem, Mis..."
"It is because I made it so!"
"Last time you made us a problem like that it didn't do
anything good..."
"Did they find true love or did they not?"
"They did not!"
"Yes they did!"
"Oh yeah? Did they kiss? Did they get married? Did
they..."
"They found true love because of us!"
"They became friends because they beat those losers
together!" Ash was by now standing in front of her and waved
a hand in the direction of James, Meowth and Pikachu with an
uncertain manner.
"WHO are losers?!" Meowth shrieked, but was thoroughly
ignored.
"Oh!" Misty turned away from him and her eyes glazed
over once more, "You were dressed as a bride and a
groom!" she sighed.
"And James was the bride." Ash remarked and gained a
bump on the head.
Elsewhere, or to be exact, three stories over them, a hungry
young woman awoke from her beauty sleep. She gave an annoyed sigh
as she realized that both male and feline companion were gone,
and decided to spend an hour in the shower to punish them. Well,
one of them anyway. The other one... she thought for a moment,
and instead decided that she probably would have used an hour in
the shower anyway and settled for whacking both of them when they
returned.
James had decided that Ash and Misty's argument could work fine
as a diversion for him to get lost, but just as he was about to
sneak away the yellow rodent beside his pokèmon teammate started
to squeak loudly at the sight of his bet going to hell and making
Misty look up at him again.
"James!" he cringed and turned slowly.
"Um...yes?"
"Don't go!"
"Yes, do!"
Her worried expression changed to one of anger as she whacked Ash
again, but then looked back at James.
"We know where the ring is."
That got his attention.
"What?"
"We found it here last night, and we didn't know who it
belonged to, but now that we do..." her voice drifted off,
leaving a very eager James staring at her, "Ash! We're gonna
get the ring!" she declared.
"Do we have to?"
James didn't look much more comfortable than him. His love life
was miserable, yes, but getting help two kids who's pokèmon he
tried to steal every day wasn't something that would actually
help him.
"Look, if you just get me the ring I'll do the rest myself,
and you don't have too..."
Misty had already left.
Jesse perked up when she heard the door open, and in a swift
movement she was standing beside her two teammates who glanced
nervously up at her and then fell to the floor covering their
heads. The sight was so pathetic that she decided it was enough
and turned around.
"We're going shopping today." She announced.
"Do I have to come?"
"Of course you do." When she realized how depressed he
looked she decided to show a little sympathy, "We're going
to the east city mall." She generously offered.
His face lit up, "The one with the bridal shop?"
"Yes." She replied to his smile and went back to occupy
the shower.
"And weren't you gonna get a ring, Romeo?" Meowth asked
as James started looking around for his wallet.
"Huh?"
"Aren't there things a bit more important than that you're
going to that bridal shop?!"
"But... oh..." James suddenly remembered his previous
appointment, "She'll kill me if I don't go with her, you
know."
"James, she'll kill you anyway if you ever as much as shows
that ring to her, but there's still some weird reason why I
keep..." Meowth stopped himself and grinned widely at him,
"On the second thought, I really think you should go. Those
wedding dresses might be gone by tomorrow, you know, and..."
James had, unfortunately, already made his way over to the phone,
and was dialing up the number. After a few seconds a brown-haired
boy appeared on the screen.
"Hello, this is Mondo." He greeted him.
"Look, I need you to do me a favor." James said.
"What about?"
"Get me a ring from the red-haired girl."
"You mean steal it?"
"No! I mean, she'll give it to..." he thought for a
moment, "Just look cute and say I couldn't come myself,
okay?"
Brock and Tracey were of course not back when Ash and Misty
returned, they were still busy with finding the love of Brock's
life. Tracey had told him that whoever he married was to be
confirmed by him first just to make sure it was a decent girl,
and Brock had agreed, much to Tracey's relief. At least then they
wouldn't have to bail him out or something.
They had passed a lot of girls, but every time Brock took aim
Tracey silently shook his head and they moved on.
Thus, they had now walked through the entire city and Brock was
still a bachelor. Tracey prayed he was about to give up when they
ran into a girl in an old-fashioned white dress with lots of
lace, bows and other ornaments all over. She had blond hair in a
bun on top of her head and looked adorable innocent and helpless
as she with tear-filled eyes looked at them and in a quarrying
voice said:
"Oh, I'm so awfully lost and alone..."
Tracey blinked twice and didn't notice the cheesy grin that
formed in his face. Being a teenager boy it was extremely hard
not to notice that her dress was one of the more low-necked ones.
One of the more extremely low-necked ones.
Brock on the other hand, was back to normal after a minor
seizure. Back to 'Brock sees a pretty girl' normal, which was not
helped by the already mentioned low-necked dress. Almost without
knowing he did it, but with a sudden confidence in that it was
meant to be, Brock knelt in front of the girl.
"Marry me!" he exclaimed and held up the ring. The
girl's eyes narrowed as she studied it, but the she grabbed it in
a swift moment and yelled:
"Butch! Get your ass over here!" That startled Tracey a
little, but the girl put her littler finger in the corner of her
moth and smiled shyly at him, and he continued to stare at her
and grin like an idiot.
A man with aqua-colored hair came running out of a nearby bush,
and had a hastily conversation with the girl, and she handed him
the ring which he stuck into his pocket. Something told Tracey
that the fact that he wore a black Team Rocket uniform was wrong
in a way, but with his attention turned to the girl those warning
bells were pushed into the very back of his mind. She turned to
Brock and Tracey again.
"You don't have any pokèmon, do you?" she asked with
an innocent look. Both of the shook their heads,
"Dammit!" she muttered, and then took the man's arm for
support as they scampered of.
Tracey stood there looking after them for a few seconds, and then
turned to his friend.
"Did she just run away with some other guy?"
Before Brock got to answer Ash and Misty run into them.
"Brock!" Misty grabbed him by the collar of his vest
and started shaking him, "Where's the ring?!"
"I think his fiancé has it..." Tracey said, still
slightly dizzy.
"What?!" Ash and Misty yelled at once. Brock did at
last turn to them.
"Perhaps it only was her brother..." he suggested.
"Who's brother?"
"My fiancé's brother!"
"You're not engaged!"
"He is now."
Misty felt a very strong urge to ripping the hair off her head,
and started explaining the situation to the two of them.
Mondo had been hanging around outside the Team Rocket
headquarters which were located in a tall building by the
Viridian gym for quite some time when he saw a Misty and Ash
coming down the road, the former looking rather glum and the
later munching on a sandwich.
Mondo got to hear a sad tale about two over-hormonal teenager
boys, a blonde in a dress and a man with green hair and a bad
voice.
Somewhere in Viridian City Cassidy lay on a couch, the ring she
had stolen earlier pinched between her fingers and dangling over
her eyes.
It was pretty.
The major thought in her head was that the ring actually was very
pretty. Probably an engagement ring or something. Talking about
engagements... she glanced up at her partner, talking to Mondo on
the phone.
"No, I don't give a damn about who had that stupid ring, the
point is that we have it now!" Butch snapped at Mondo and
hung up before he turned to Cassidy again. To his surprise she
looked at him with an odd expression.
"Don't you think we should get married?" she asked
softly.
"Um... sure..." he turned around and dialed up again,
"Who did you say that ring belonged to?"
It was getting late, and Jesse and James had finished their
shopping trip and decided to do a last attempt to swipe Pikachu
so they at least could write the accident statement for their
boss, things had gone the usual way except for Misty looking a
bit depressed at James and Pikachu had shocked Ash twice during
their argument about him blasting off Team Rocket or not, and
they were now facing a very angry looking Charizard.
Things didn't look too good for the next minutes of Jesse's life.
Just when she was about to jump behind James in a faint hope of
avoiding being hit by the upcoming flamethrower someone shouted
in the distance, and being distracted everybody in place turned
to discover Butch running down the road.
"James!" he called again, and when he stopped in front
of them a voice yelling in the distance was heard.
"It isn't important! I'll be back soon!" Butch replied
when he had stopped panting too hard.
"... didn't hear what you said and these heels are KILLING
me!" a female voice cried. Butch shrugged and turned to
James, still slightly out of breath, and ignored that the fellow
rocket was waving his arms and shaking his head panicked in front
of him.
"It's yours, right?" he asked and pressed something
into James's palm without waiting for the answer, "...and if
not just keep it anyway."
"Butch! Didn't I tell you to WAIT for me?" Cassidy was
now in full view, still in the white dress. Brock and Tracey's
eyes widened considerably. She held up the skirt as she staggered
down the road on extremely high heels and the hair in a bun on
top of her head, "And why are you so hurried to talk to...
Jesse?" she asked and frowned. Butch walked over to her and
grabbed her arm, and she gratefully leaned onto him for support.
"I just gave James something from Mondo, okay? I think we'll
still be able to get a few more if you just don't..."
"I'm sick of this stupid dress, and if we don't go home so I
can get out of it NOW I can assure you mister YOU'LL be the one
to wear it tomorrow!" she snapped. Butch sweatdropped and
nodded mutely.
"We're having the rest of the day off." he agreed and
dragged her with him as she continued to wince every five meter
about her shoes. When they were out of view Jesse turned to James
and tried to open his hand. When he suddenly fastened his grip
she looked annoyed at him.
"What is it?" she asked demandingly.
"Nothing!" he gulped and started to turn, looking for
any potential way of getting away as soon as possible.
"It isn't nothing!" she snapped and fastened her grip
around his arm, "Now give it to me!" she barked and
yanked him closer. He looked nervously around and shook his head.
"What?" she screamed and lunged for him, knocking him
to the ground.
"Give it to me!"
"No!"
"Give it to me!"
"Never!"
"Why not?!"
"Because..." his voice trailed of, and instead he took
a good grab of her hair and pulled. She bawled and let got of him
and took her red coil and pulled back.
"You fight like a girl!" she sneered and at last
managed to pull it away from his grip.
"I know!" he tried to take it again, but this time she
pounced down on his chest and knocked the breath out of him.
"Just give it to me and I won't hurt you." She calmly
told him, face mer inches from his.
"You would too!" he complained and pushed her up with
all his strength, so she sat over him and struggled to bend down,
and he lay under her trying to get her off, which of course none
of them got anywhere with.
"Schyter!" he sudden yelled and pointed up behind her.
Since the hand he'd used to point was the one to hold her left
shoulder up she fell on him, and instead of running away she
screamed and clung to him. She sat up a few seconds later and
looked around and then whacked him.
"Liar!" she shouted. He ignored it and used the moments
of distraction to roll over so she fell of, and started crawling
away. Unfortunately she managed to get a firm grip around his
left ankle the last second and yanked him down again, and before
he could scramble up again she was sitting on his back, this time
removing her gloves and rolling up her sleeves.
"Give..." she pressed his face down in the ground,
"It..." she continued, "To..."
"Jesse please..."
"ME!" she roared and yanked it up by his hair. He
whined and took his head with one hand and still held the other
tightly to his chest.
"NO!" When she continued to pull his hair he
desperately looked at the other present, "Meowth, help
me!" he begged. The pokèmon just shook his head.
"I really think this is the sort of thing you should be able
to get out of yourself." He sighed.
"Brock! Tracey! Ash! Please! Misty..."
"James, I'm sure you know a lot more about girls than me,
but if this is the way you plan to..." Brock started.
"Okay FORGET ABOUT IT!" James said loudly and somehow
managed to throw Jesse of, but didn't come long before she lunged
and once again was sitting on his back.
"Why don't you just give it to me?" she asked him
sweetly and pressed his nose into the dirt.
"Because this way you'll only beat me senseless, but if I
give it to you you'll kill me." He explained. She pummeled
his face harder into the ground.
"I think my nose is bleeding..."
"I give you a minute start-off?" she suggested. He was
silent for a while.
"You wont do it anyway." He concluded. She groaned
frustrated and climbed of him.
"Okay. I give you ONE last chance for giving whatever it is
to..." she stopped and took a firm grip around his leg as he
was about to run away, and he fell to the ground again, but this
time he lost his concentration, and before he got to shake out
the slight concussion she had bent his fingers away and picked up
the item.
"A RING?" she said in disbelief. James was still dizzy
and couldn't do anything but look dumbly at her. She twirled it
between her fingers and looked at him again, "Why the heck
were you afraid of showing it to me?" she asked again. When
he just continued to stare at her she got impatient and whacked
him upside the head.
"That HURT!" he whimpered, and she held her fingers
right in front of his eyes, and he finally realized what had
happened.
"NO!" he cried and tried to scramble to his feet again,
but since she sat on one of his legs that was rather difficult.
She calmly pushed him down again without even taking her eyes
from the ring and spoke softly.
"Is there anything special about it?" he looked at the
ground.
"That doesn't matter anymore..." he muttered and failed
to get his foot loose.
"I think it does." She said.
The entire place was silent. Nobody said anything, it was like
they didn't even dare to breath, as Jesse and James looked into
each others eyes...
"Tell me or I'll make sure you'll never be able to give your
parents grandchildren!"
"I don't want to give THEM grandchildren either!" he
then realized what she'd meant, "Meowth help me!"
The feline pokèmon had major ethical problems. Of course, the
right thing to do as the good friend he was would be to fury
swipe Jesse so James had a chance in getting away. On the other
hand, that wouldn't solve any long-termed problems as James
probably would run home, where of course Jesse would find him and
beat the crap out of him, just a little later. It also contained
him getting beaten to pulp after 'ruining her perfection'.
Then there was the alternative in telling Jesse about the ring,
but there were only two possible outcomes of that: She'd either
kill James, or they'd start necking, none of which tempted Meowth
considerably. Or, of course, she could just laugh over him, but
that would mean James killing him later... And this seemed to
turn out to be quite entertaining.
He shook his head.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Ash whispered to Misty.
She looked at the scenario. This wasn't exactly the proposal of
dreams... First off, James seemed very eager to keep Jesse from
knowing about it. Second, she was sitting on him and screaming at
him. Third, James was halfway passed out in concussion and had a
pretty bad nosebleed as a result of the prior fight.
"Perhaps we should..."
There were no romantic music, no candles, and James didn't kneel
unless sitting on the ground trying to avoid being hit by the
girl sitting on your legs counted as kneeling, and the rose James
had carried was now squashed flat in the mud.
"He planned to propose to you with it." she firmly
said.
Both Jesse and James stared at her. James with a look like he was
about to be executed, and Jesse in pure shock.
Nobody said anything for a minute. Jesse just stared, and James
looked even more desperate and slowly removed his glove from the
nose. At last Jesse closed her mouth, to ask:
"What?!"
"Oh brother, this is even worse than with the
Schyters!" James gulped and yanked his leg away from under
her, so she fell on her butt. She looked at the ring in her hand,
and then moved her face to him, not looking angry, not looking
happy, not looking surprised, just confused.
"You were to propose to me?!" she asked in disbelief.
"You'll still give me my start-off, won't you?" he
stammered and raised up.
"Why...." She didn't finish.
"I'm out of here!" James cried and hauled ass down the
road, but seconds later his partner were on her feet to and took
off after him.
Tracey, Meowth, Ash, Misty and Brock just stood and looked after
them.
"Misty, I don't really think that helped him all that
much...." Ash nervously said. Brock and Tracey nodded in
agreement.
"No, perhaps I don't know much about girls but I do know
stuff about romance, and girls beating boys isn't specially
promising for their relationship..." Brock added.
"She got him." Tracey silently said and lifted his
binoculars.
"This will be bloodshed, won't it?" Brock nervously
asked.
"Probably." Meowth sighed, "Probably.
Jesse was confused, actually to the limit that her only clear
thought was that she couldn't let James run away, either because
she had to sort this out with him or because she had to hit him
into orbit. So when she was close enough she kicked of a little
extra and threw her body after him, barely managing to grab him
by the shoulders and knock him to the ground as she fell on him.
She heard him loose his breath, and then catch it again, and then
a very, very wary voice.
"Jesse, is that you?"
"Yeah." She replied, trying to figure out exactly what
had happened the last minutes. After some time he spoke again.
"Aren't you gonna kill me now?"
"I don't think so." She tightened her grip.
"Why not?"
She heard panting voices approach them and slowly sat up, and
then crawled of him. He didn't move at all, but she saw that he
looked away from her.
"Were you going to propose to me?" she asked him again.
"Kinda..."
"Do you want to marry me?"
"Not anymore! You made my nose bleed!" he snapped and
then winced as he sat up beside her and held one of his shins
tightly.
"That wasn't on purpose." She declared somewhat annoyed
and took the tine wisp of hair that hang down in his eyes and
yanked him close, "And I'll do it."
"Do what and let go of my hair that hurts!" he replied.
Either because she ignored it or because she simply didn't notice
it, his partner fastened her grip in the hair and gave it a hard
yank.
"Don't DO that, you know I can't stand to get my hair pulled
it hur---" the rest was muffled when she pressed her hand
over his lips.
"Now stop the complaining before I get angry at you, and you
don't want that, do you?"
"Mmmff mmffmf hmm?" he said, and she rolled her eyes
and removed the hand.
"Weren't you mad at me already?" he repeated. She
looked startled at him.
"No!" she exclaimed.
"You are lying! You can't possible hear that I wanted to
marry you and then not be mad at me!" he replied.
"Yes, I can!"
"No, you can't!"
"I can!"
"You cannot!"
"I can!"
"You cannot!"
"Can!"
"Cannot!"
"Can!"
"Cannot!"
"Can!"
"Can!"
"Cannot!"
"See, you even said it yourself!" James smugly told her
and pulled down the lower eyelid.
"Watch your step or I'll dye your hair like the little
twerpette's!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Want to bet?"
"What is going on?"
"Does he say that he loves you?"
"Misty, he's scared to dea---oww!"
The twerp company and Meowth all looked equally confused. Except
Ash, who was clutching his stomach as he bent over, moaning in
pain.
James took the opportunity to grab Jesse's wrist and try to pull
her hand away, but only succeed in making her yank harder and
shove his hand away.
"Are you deaf?" she snapped and pulled his hand back
again, forgetting that she still was holding his hair and causing
a cry in pain from her partner. She then let go of it and opened
the palm of her other hand, revealing the ring, and with an angry
scowl yanked off her glove and shoved it down on her finger
before she waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"There!"
"What?"
She slapped him with her glove and held her hand so close to his
face that he had to push it away again before he looked at it.
"What did you do that for?" he asked her, and her face
fell, for just a few seconds before she smugly spoke again.
"James, how much money are you going to inherit?"
"I don't remember..."
"Exactly."
Misty looked disappointed.
"Didn't you have to marry Je..." Ash went silent when
she stomped on his foot.
There was a long silence as James just stared at Jesse's hand.
Pikachu pricked Meowht's shoulder, "Chu."
"GODAMMIT!" Meowth shrieked and furyswiped both of
them, making them drop to the ground moaning in pain, and then
was hit into the forest by a very angry Jesse. Pikachu wandered
off after him to claim whatever he had won. When she at last had
stopped screaming obscenities after the feline Jesse turned to
glare at the four kids looking at her, and then grabbed James and
hauled him to his feet.
"We're going home." She announced and wandered off, and
he followed, looking more than anything like a puppy following
its master.
As Jesse and James walked away into the setting sun Misty looked
after them with starry eyes, hands clasped together and Togepi
franticly chirping by her feet.
"It's so romantic..." she sighed, and her companions
exchanged glances.
"I wouldn't use that..." Ash started.
"I want a boyfriend I can marry too!"
A sudden silence fell over the little group, and Ash, Brock and
Tracey simultaneously stepped backwards at the memory of James's
day. Misty looked confused at them.
"I'm gay!" Tracey squeaked desperately, "Gay!
Queer! Homosexual!" when he realized she didn't believe him,
he threw himself on Brock and kissed him, somehow managing to
keep the squirming body of his friend on spot. At last he broke
away and gasped for air, shuddered and waved his hands in front
of himself, "See? I like boys!"
She moved her glance to Brock, who paled.
"Me to!" he quickly said, "I wanted him to kiss
me! Really!" he pointed at Tracey, who still was panting
slightly and nodded in reply.
"Ash?"
He suddenly found three pairs of eyes fixed at himself, and
terror stroke him as Misty's filled with tears, and she looked
pleadingly at him. The feeling of that not saying anything could
be translated the wrong way in her pre-teenager girl brain crept
onto him, and he backed further back, desperately trying to come
up with something to say.
"You won't abandon me, will you?" she asked softly and
walked towards him. He took another step back and opened his moth
to speak, but just didn't know what to say.
"Ash?"
He started to walk faster, still with his back turned to the
direction he walked in and looking at Misty.
"Gary!" he squealed at last.
"What?" she stopped for a moment, and he took the
opportunity to turn around and run like a sheep down the road.
"Gary!" he repeated, "I like Gary!"
"Ash!" she cried and ran after him. Togepi happily
chirped and bounced after her.
"No! I like Gary! Not you! Gary!"
"No, you're not gay! Ash I know you're not gay!"
"Gaaaaaaryyyy....." was the last thing Brock and Tracey
heard as the dust settled down on the road again.
They stood in silence for a while, and then looked at each other.
"Did we just reject the only female that has ever shown a
slight interest in us?" Brock asked, and Tracey nodded. They
exchanged a look filled with pain and mutual understanding.
"I got my first kiss from a boy!" Brock whined.
"We're gonna DIE virgins!"
They stood in silence for another few minutes, the sun casting
the last rays over them, and Brock took something out of one of
his vest pockets.
"Uh..."
Tracey turned to him, "What?"
"I have the room keys, and Misty and Ash will probably be
busy for the rest of the night..."
Brock looked at Tracey, Tracey looked at Brock, and the sun at
last sunk under the horizon as desperation seized the last
control over them.
"Oh, to hell with it." Tracey said and took his hand,
and they walked down the same road as Jesse and James had done
before them.
*********
And the infamous end moral which is the reason Tracey is here?
Never be too narrow-minded, hating and bombastic when I can see
it. At least not if I'm not agreeing with you.
You see, the thirdwheelshipping (Brock/Tracey relationship if the
name isn't painfully obvious) was not planned, but I happened to
see one place too many that Tracey doesn't deserve love when I
was writing this, and... well, a lot of people literary asked for
this one.
I really and honestly do hope I grossed you who think so out and
that you at the moment is really peeved over the fact that not
only did I give him a happy ending, but a happy ending with Brock
none the less *smiles*. Well... sex, true love, I think those to
go fairly as one in my characterizations of the two of them
anyway. Talking about characterizations, you are all welcome to
comment on how I could've made James stay more ic here, too,
because I'm sure that could've been better. Some people have beta
readers, but alas, I am most unfortunately not one of those
(whether that be for me or you), and thus don't really have any
ideas of the quality of this when I claim to be finished.