Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Team Rocket's Secret ❯ Chapter 2

After a short fifteen minutes, the group were standing on a grassy field, wild rapidash grazing quietly several yards away. Jessie, still carrying James, immediately stepped closer, but everyone else held back. When she realized that she was walking out alone, she turned back with a surprised look.

"What's wrong? It's just rapidash."

Misty gulped and held Togepi closer. "But look at those horns, and those hooves! They could trample us to nothing if we get too close."

"Misty's right," Brock nodded. "You can't just walk up to them and expect nothing to happen. You'll have to find one that's willing to listen and--"

"--and that'll take time we don't have," Jessie said firmly. She looked back at the herd, took a deep breath, and started moving forward again. "Meowth?"

"Coming, Jessie," the little pokemon sighed, tagging along at her heels.

"Wait up!" Ash cried, jogging to catch up with her. Pikachu held on tight to his shoulder, wondering if his trainer had lost his mind. "I'm not gonna let you go in there without any help."

Jessie glanced down at him, and she actually smiled at him. "I don't know that those pokemon aren't going to ram those horns through us. You could be walking to your own death."

"I won't just stand by while you wander into danger," Ash said stubbornly.

"You're...almost...as stubborn...as Jessie," James whispered with a laugh.

"Hush, or I'll drop you," she threatened him. They both kept walking closer until the rapidash noticed them. The herd skittered nervously, and for a moment they looked like they were going to race away. Then they started to circle around the humans, surrounding them and lowering their horns, and their hooves pawed at the ground.

"Oh no, they're gonna charge 'em!" Brock gasped.

Misty turned aside and closed her eyes. "Ash, be careful!"

"James," Jessie said, "you'd better start talking--James?" Jessie and Ash looked down at the second member of Team Rocket. To their horror, he had passed out.

Meowth huddled between Jessie's ankles, shaking in fear. "Of all the times to fall asleep...!"

"Pikachu," Ash whispered, "get ready to shock the herd."

"Pikachu..."

"Wait!" Jessie yelled, clutching James even tighter. "Please...let this work..." She stared at the obvious leader of the herd and stepped closer to him. "Rapidash rapirapidash...dashdash rapi...rapidarapish!"

Every pokemon in the herd suddenly froze, glancing back and forth at each other, then looking up at their leader, who backed uncertainly away. It glared at Meowth and snorted something.

"Keep going, Jessie," Meowth encouraged her. "He's listening. He wants to know how you learned to talk to him."

Jessie nodded and started up again, speaking faster as she grew more confident that they weren't going to be trampled and impaled. She explained everything to him, telling him they were on the run and tired and injured, could some of them please carry them to the nearest city? For a moment all of the rapidash conferred amongst themselves, and a few of them whinnied and shook their heads. Four of the rapidash stepped out from behind the others, though, and the first one went down on its front leg, allowing Jessie to place James up on its back and then climb up behind him.

"All right!" Ash grinned, jumping up onto the next rapidash. They both rode back down the hill, and the other two rapidash allowed Misty and Brock up. Without wasting any time, they took off down the road.

"Wow, that was amazing!" Misty said, riding up next to Jessie. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"James has been teaching me," Jessie replied, readjusting his limp body in her arms. "But I'm not very good at it, yet."

"But you just spoke to them," Brock argued. "You have to be good."

Jessie shook her head. "No, I just know how to speak to pokemon, I don't understand what they're saying. Meowth still has to translate for me."

"Is that why your boss is after you?" Ash asked.

She nodded. "Once he found out what James could do, he wanted to drag him off to one of his laboratories and...cut him open...do tests on him..." She sighed and shook her head, looking down the road. "How far is it to the next town?"

"Good question," Misty scowled at Ash. "There's no telling where anything is when Ash is reading the map."

"I'm sure we're on the right road," Ash snapped, falling back into the familiar argument. "We're going east, right?"

Jessie gave them both an incredulous look. "You mean you just wander around the forest until you find a patch of civilization?"

They both grinned sheepishly. "Um, yeah...it's always worked before."

Jessie groaned. "Do us all a favor and let Meowth see the map. He's really good at reading them."

Ash, Brock and Misty exchanged looks. Was it safe to do that? Jessie noticed and shook her head. "Look, the map's not helping you any, so what could it hurt? We promise not to shred it."

"All right," Ash said, cautiously handing it over to Meowth, who sat down with his back to Jessie.

"Let's see...anybody got a compass?"

They all shrugged.

"That's okay, I got the stars...hmm..." he turned the map around, then gave it another half-turn. "If we're where I think we are, we're about two miles from Tendo city."

"Tendo city?!" Misty cried. "Ash, we just came from there! You're leading us in circles!"

"Hey, you couldn't read the map either."

Jessie looked over at Brock. "Are they always like this?"

Brock shook his head. "No, usually they're worse."

~*~*~*~*~

Half an hour later, they rode past a small sign welcoming them into the city limits. The dirt road gradually turned onto what looked like a vague town, with small buildings and vast farmland around it. Jessie looked around, clutching James close as she turned.

"They call this place a city?" she gasped. "Does it even have a hospital?"

"I don't think so," Brock relied. "I think they fly anyone who gets hurt to another city."

"But they do have an inn," Misty offered.

Jessie sighed and looked down. "That'll have to do. Where is it?"

"Right here," Ash said, pointing to the building on their left. The rapidash followed his gesture and stopped right at the door, bowing so Jessie could slide off with James.

She turned and faced the four of them. "Um...rapirapidash rapidash...rapidadash..."

Without another sound, the pokemon turned and galloped off back down the road, disappearing into the forest. Jessie gathered her teammate into her arms again and walked into the inn, going straight to the counter.

"Hello! Hello, is anyone here?" she called.

"Maybe they're all asleep," Misty said. "It is pretty early."

"Hello!" Jessie called out again, starting to get irritated.

Suddenly an old woman popped out from behind a door, dressed in a nightgown. "Yes, what can I do for--oh, my goodness! What happened to you?!" she stared at Jessie's disheveled appearance and the unconscious boy in her arms.

"Oh, we've just been walking for such a long time," Jessie said, lying effortlessly. "I'm afraid my friend here fell asleep. Could we get a room so we can get some rest?" And here she produced a wallet full of dollar bills.

" Of course, of course," the old woman smiled when she saw the money and gave her a key. "All of you can stay over, there are enough beds in the suite." She took the amount from the wallet and handed it back to Jessie, who tucked it away, and then led them all up two flights of stairs. "Here you go! If you need anything, just call."

"Thank you!" Jessie smiled as the inn keeper opened the door for her, giving the key to Ash. Once they had shut the door, she immediately set her friend down on the nearest bed. "Ah, what a relief!" She rushed over and closed the drapes on the window, plunging the room into darkness.

"Hey!" Misty shouted. "What'd you do that for?"

"I don't want anyone spotting us in here," Jessie snapped. "The last thing I need is for the boss to find us and take us back."

"But it's so dark," Misty whispered, and they could hear Togepi chirping nervously.

"Relax, Misty," Ash chuckled. "I'll take care of that. Pikachu, can you give us a glow?"

"Pipikachu!"

Slowly they could see a faint glow coming from the center of the floor. Half a minute later, the entire room was faintly lit up. Misty sat down on the closest bed to her and set Togepi on the pillow, soothing it and putting it to sleep. Across the room, Ash and Brock tossed their packs down on their own beds.

Meanwhile, Jessie started to pull James' boots off, then reached up and slipped his shirts over his head and arms. James whimpered in his sleep as his arms were moved, but Jessie didn't stop until his top was bare and his pants were gone. All of the bruises and cuts on him stood out against his skin, pale from exhaustion. Jessie pulled the blankets over his body and went to the sink, tearing a piece of cloth from her partner's top shirt and dipping it in the cold water.

"Do you two always wear two shirts?" Misty asked.

Jessie laughed lowly. "With all the damage we do to our clothes, we have to keep two layers on." Once her rag was soaked, she brought it back over to James and lay it on his forehead. "Meowth, why don't you go to sleep?"

"Ya sure ya don't mind?" he asked, curling up against the pillow. He konked out before his eyes even closed.

"You wanna borrow my brush?" Misty asked, offering it out.

Jessie nodded gratefully and took it, starting to attack the tangles in her hair.

"Um, don't take this the wrong way," Brock piped up, "but how come you're not being such a pain?"

"Yeah," Ash broke in, "why aren't you yelling like you usually do?"

"Ash!" Misty practically yelled. "You are so completely dumb sometimes!"

Jessie chuckled and shook her head. "Just like children..." she whispered to herself. She looked up at them. "It's a really long story...but I suppose I should tell you, since you've helped us...after we get some sleep, though," she sighed. She tossed the brush back to Misty, and shook her hair out. It was still dull, but at least it was free of tangles.

"Good idea," Misty yawned. "Tomorrow, then." She climbed into bed, and Ash and Brock followed suit. A thought abruptly entered her head, and she glanced around. There were only four beds. "Jessie, where are you going to sleep?"

"Where I usually do," Jessie answered, removing her boots and top shirt. She pulled back the blankets covering James and slid in next to him, easing up against his body. Still asleep, James smiled and turned toward her. "Goodnight."

A little surprised, all of them started off the rounds of "goodnights" and got into bed.

"Pikachu, you can turn off now."

The little yellow rodent stopped glowing, letting the room get dark again, and they heard him jumping into Ash's bed. After that, though, they all fell asleep.