Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Ripples ❯ Coping ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

I stared at the ground in shock. No! I don’t want to be like this for the rest of my life! I thought in horror.
“There has got to be a way to undo this!” cried Jessie. “If it was done to us, then it can be undone!”
“But how? The thunder shock didn’t work, and neither did switching the necklaces, or standing further apart, or anything!” cried James.
“I will find a way!” said Jessie firmly. “I refuse to have to live in this flat chested, no figure body!”
I glared at Jessie. I‘d ignored her comments the last couple of times, but she was really beginning to get on my nerves. “I am not flat chested, and I do so have a figure!”
Jessie fumed, “You’re not now because you‘re in my perfect body, but your body is!”
I said, “Well, at least I don’t have a totally whacked out hairstyle that looks like the back of a hammer!" I smiled as I remembered something. I glared at her coldly and continued, "Then again, neither do you now..."
Jessie’s gaze became so cold that it seemed like a blizzard had hit. “How dare you insult my hair!” she cried as she started to lunge for me. She slipped out of his grasp, but then both Diana and James restrained her.
“Let go of me, both of you! She insulted my hair!” cried Jessie.
“Attacking her isn’t going to solve anything!” cried James.
“You’d just be hurtin’ yourself,” said Meowth. “An’ I mean literally.”
At least those two have some sense, I thought.
“Great. My cousin has been possessed by a homicidal maniac,” said Diana.
Jessie growled and continued to glare at me, and I kept meeting her nasty gaze. I didn’t back down until Nigel pulled me away.
“Hey! Let go!” I cried.
“Ladies, fighting with each other isn’t going to help,” said Nigel. “We need to cooperate with each other and find a solution to this, um, problem. Excuse me and my sister a moment.” He pulled me aside.
“We need to settle matters with them,” said Nigel. “And we need to keep an eye on them.”
“So what do you have in mind?” I said.
“First, you should give them back the money you took from them,” he replied.
“Okay,” I replied. “I’ll give her back her pokémon if she’ll give me back mine, but there’s a problem. They’ll see me as Jessie and vice versa, but if we let them out, sooner or later they’re going to know that something’s up. So we’ll have to explain it to them. Merlin can explain it to my pokémon, and we’ll have to help explain it to Jessie’s. Wait, another thing--clothes. I don’t think Jessie and I wear the same size; she’s a bit taller than I am and she's proportioned, um, differently. So we’ll have to borrow each other’s clothes, but I am not wearing a Team Rocket uniform if I can help it!”
“There’s something else,” said Nigel. “We all need to stay together, so I was thinking of asking all of them to spend the night here.”
“What!” I exclaimed. “We hardly know these people! We just met them today--well, I met James last night--but where will we put them?”
“Well, think of it this way,” said Nigel. “Jessie’s in your body, and we can’t have her impersonating you or something. James and that Meowth seem to be the only ones who can reason with her, so they have to stay. Not that I trust any of them, but we’ve got to keep them where we can watch them. And those other three--well, they can stay if they want, and if they choose to, we’ll have some allies against Team Rocket. As for where we’ll put them, hmm--well, Ash and Brock can stay in the guest bedroom Um, I don’t know if anything’s going on between Jessie and James, and normally I wouldn’t care, but right now, she’s in your body, so let’s have her stay in Mom and Dad’s old bedroom.”
“What!” I cried. "Nigel, how could you ever suggest such a thing!"
“Kerr, the guest bedroom has two separate beds, and Mom and Dad’s bedroom has only one bed. Don’t worry, we’ll take all the valuables out before we let her stay there,” sighed Nigel. He continued, “Misty can sleep on the fold out bed in the living room, and James can have the cot in the study.”
I nodded grimly. “I spent about $35 getting back here. Let me go get the money.”
I did so. While I was gone, I overheard Nigel say to Ash, Misty, and Brock, “If you guys want to leave, I understand. I hate to do this, but I’m going to have to ask Team Rocket to stay with us.”
Ash blinked in surprise as an expression of disgust crossed his face. "Yuck! Why do you want Team Rocket to stay with you?"
“Ash, they don’t have much of a choice. Jessie is occupying Kerri’s body,” said Brock.
“I guess you’re right,” said Ash. “What do you think, Brock?”
“I think they need our help,” replied Brock.
“Pikachu,” said Pikachu as it nodded in agreement. ("I agree.")
“No way can we leave you guys to deal with Team Rocket alone,” said Misty.
“We know how to handle them! Ash Ketchum will protect you!” cried Ash proudly.
Misty and Brock groaned.
“So you’ll stay?” said Nigel.
Ash and his companions nodded.
“Great! Like I really want to stay with the brats!” said Jessie as the starlight glinted off my (her?) blond hair.
“Jessie, we don’t really have anywhere else to go,” said James.
“An' Kerri’s in your body,” said Meowth. "Besides--" It then whispered something to Jessie and James that I couldn't hear. At first, Jessie looked happy, then she looked unhappy again.
“I guess we don’t have much of a choice,” said Jessie bitterly.
“Well, think of it this way, Jessie,” said James. “We won’t have to camp out--and we’ll get free food!”
“Can’t you think of anything but food?” said Jessie in exasperation.
“Maybe we’ll get to sleep in real beds!” said Meowth.
Jessie said, "Well, I guess there is that..."
As I returned, Nigel said, “Ok, people, I’ve got a plan. First, Jessie, James--Kerri has something for you.”
I walked over to James and handed him the jewelry and the money. “Here’s what I borrowed from you. Sorry about that.”
“Hey! That’s my share! Why’d you hand it to him?” said Jessie.
“Because he probably won’t attack me at the slightest provocation,” I replied.
Jessie growled, and James handed the money and the jewelry to Jessie.
“The next part’s going to be a bit hard,” said Nigel. “We will find a solution to this problem, but until we do, we have to tell Jessie’s and Kerri’s pokémon what happened--Jessie, Kerri, let the pokémon out of their poké balls.”
“But--” said Jessie, who was promptly cut off by Meowth.
“Jessie, do ya want her telling Arbok and Lickitung what to do?” said Meowth.
“No,” sighed Jessie irritably.
“We’d better explain this to our pokémon, too,” said Brock.

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