James ran and ran, his little heels hitting the pavement with every breath, desperate to escape the over-affections of those obviously insane women who seemed so intent on getting their hands on him. He was so absorbed in keeping his sights fixed on an escape route that he forgot to look elsewhere and his foot caught upon something in his path, sending the astonished boy flying to meet the concrete with a nasty crunch.
"Oof!"
An intense burning shot across James' body. It was so sudden and unexpected that the figure couldn't help but utter a yell as he felt himself slide a few inches over the hardened surface.
"I'm so sorry!" a small voice gasped from above as a shadow was cast across James' back. The boy's watery eyes were wide as he uttered short, sharp breaths of shock in response to the unknown feeling that flooded his mind. "I apologise for tripping you, I never realised you were so close. Are you ok?"
"I c-c-could be better..." James struggled to utter, catching hold of the young girl's hand to stand upright while forcing back the urge to wail childishly at the nasty grazes he had received across his chest, arms and legs from the impact. The sorrow over his pains was soon to be replaced by fear once more as the excited squeals of his pursuers echoed into the air from a short distance away.
"I think I see him up ahead!" one of the women exclaimed.
"Oooh he's a nippy one" another giggled, as the group approached. James turned, took one look at the sight, squealed at an amusing pitch and dived behind the bench the girl had been sitting on, teeth chattering.
"Save me!" he pleaded. "I have no idea who those women are and there's no way I want to be smothered by them again!"
The girl grinned awkwardly at this before looking down expectantly at a small pinkish blob quivering cheerfully by her ankle.
"You know what to do, Nico"
“Diiii!” cried the Ditto as it shuffled behind James. The boy looked round in partial alarm and even more puzzlement as the Pokémon began to glow while altering shape. The women who had been pondering upon the sudden disappearance of their ‘cute little boy’ were quick to spot James' countenance emerging from behind a nearby tree, chuckling with excitement.
"There he goes!" one of them called and the group gave chase, disappearing out of sight shortly after. A few seconds passed; the girl turned slowly, a light of mischief present in her eyes, and cleared her throat a little.
"You can come out now," she stated.
"Thank goodness for that!" James spluttered, peering out from behind the bench. "I thought I would never be able to get rid of those overbearing bubbleheads. One minute I’m standing around minding my own business, the next minute all these women start pulling me about and making weird noises!” He did a few actions, just to illustrate his point. This made the girl giggle somewhat.
“Bubbly heads..." she smirked. "You’re silly. What's your name?”
James paused a moment. Was it such a good idea to hand out his real identity in this form? What if Butch or Cassidy were listening in? Or even worse, the trio of troublesome trainers he had been tailing for so long.
"It's....Eric" he replied after a short silence, looking across the path the women had vanished down. "Is your Ditto going to be okay?"
"Of course he will," the girl grinned, placing her hands on her knees as James sat down next to her. "Nico and I do this sort of thing all the time. Nico’s always pretending it’s me just to fool dad. He gets so mad when he can’t tell me from my Pokémon! And then we're always having to save unfortunate boys and girls from my sister and her friends"
"You're related to one of them?" James grimaced, recalling the previous insult. The girl giggled again at the sight of his expression.
"Yeah, but Ruby and I have nothing in common. She's so much older than me, and she's always trying to act like she's my mother instead of my sister. 'Kim, stop playing those video games. Kim, brush your teeth. Kim, take Geoffrey for a walk'"
"Geoffrey?" James echoed. Kim flashed him a smile.
"Our Douumaped" she explained. "The best house guard in the area. He's so speedy he can run around the entire garden wall in ten seconds"
James leant forward. He was finding himself genuinely interested at what the youth had to say and he wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't like he'd ever really paid attention to children's conversations before; maybe it was because he was closer to her age now.
"Big place then, huh?"
"Very big" Kim nodded.
"Sometimes I think its too big. But there's always my friends inside to keep me company"
A cry of angered disbelief caused James to dive back into hiding once more. But he had not reacted swiftly enough; Kim looked up, somewhat puzzled, as Brock's infuriated countenance stormed toward her. His slit-eyes bore straight through the girl and at her shaking companion behind the bench.
“It’s all YOUR FAULT!” he yelled, towering over James and causing him to whimper by sheer height alone. “I had them eating out of the palm of my hand!”
"Yeah, right" Misty snorted with a smirk as she approached. "From where I was standing it looked like they were all too happy to get away from you"
Brock was no longer connected to the outside world now; his fury at having what he considered his best chance at love and appreciation snatched away by some kid with no interest in romance whatsoever had contained him within his own little bubble of intent. He was practically deaf to the comments of those around him, and the frantic protests of Kim who was still sitting on the bench.
"The heat's gone to your head! Get a grip, man!" Ash spluttered, a hint of worry in his voice. Brock found himself staggering back as he was hit in the side of the face. Looking up grumpily as he lifted a hand to his head, the adolescent drew breath in surprised horror as he caught a glimpse of what looked to be himself, staring straight back at him.
"It's about time he knocked some sense into himself" Misty remarked with noticeable amusement.
"What in the name of Taj is going on?" Brock exclaimed, pointing at his duplicate. Kim leapt from the bench and ran to the doppelganger's side before clutching its leg tightly.
"Please don't hurt Nico!" she cried. "He's very protective of his friends, he doesn't want you to do anything horrible to Eric. And neither do I!"
"Nico?" Ash echoed.
"Eric?" a girl's voice spluttered. James raised his head from behind the bench upon hearing its unmistakable sharpness. Standing a metre or so away with her tiny hands on her fairly non-existent hips was the hot, reddened and stunted figure of Jessie.
"Eric..." Brock snarled, his tone of voice so cold it could chill a Walrein.
"Oh grow up" Misty groaned. Kim looked at James questioningly.
"Do you know these people?"
James was unsure of what to say. After all, admitting he knew them all would prompt further questioning from at least three members of the group, and he certainly wasn't in the mood for being blasted into the stratosphere simply for being recognized. Jessie gave him an expectant stare; she seemed to have forgotten the implications of their circumstance.
"N-nope..." the boy stammered. "N-never seen them in my life"
"That's a lie and you know it!" Jessie exclaimed angrily, causing James to go very pale indeed. "How could you possibly forget the irritating twerp bunch over there? And since when has your name been Eric?"
At this point the older trio started in surprise. Then the deep realisation sank in. Misty gave Jessie a narrowed glare as she took a few steps closer.
"You look strangely familiar..."
"Of course I do" Jessie replied sarcastically, approaching the bench. James let out a deeply dispirited sigh as he prepared himself for the inevitable electrically generated flight that was to follow.
"You're right, Misty," Brock commented, raising an eyebrow. "All these two seem to be missing is a talking-"
"Wait up, Jess!" came a thickly accented voice as a feline Pokémon skittered around the corner right on cue.
"Meowth..." Brock concluded, his voice taking on that distinct coldness once again. The furred figure uttered a tiny yelp at the taller group standing in front of him. They were all now wearing rapidly darkening expressions.
"Uh oh."
"So you do know eachother!" Kim exclaimed, unaware of the animosity. Ash was already reaching for a Pokeball on his belt as Pikachu growled surprisingly menacingly from his shoulder. By this time James' face had screwed up into a highly-defined concertina. The terrible grating stinging of the cuts across his chest and limbs was becoming all too much for his youthful lowered pain tolerance to handle.
"Oh we know them, alright" Misty grunted, while Meowth started to look most uncomfortable. "They're Jessie and James, an annoying pair of petty thieves from Team Rocket. And that's their equally irritating Pokémon companion, Meowth. We've had to blast them off so many times its unbelievable"
Jessie's face became even redder as Kim looked on blankly. She looked almost ready to retaliate loudly in what would easily clarify her membership to the organization. But before she could do so the atmosphere was shattered as James lifted back his head, opened his mouth and let rip with tremendously loud wailing. It took everyone by surprise and caused Meowth to cram his paws against his ears in protest. Kim and Nico swung round.
"Oh my!" Kim exclaimed. "I forgot you were hurt... Nico, quickly! Help me pick him up."
"What are you doing, brat?" Jessie snapped, advancing. Kim glared at her.
"Who are you calling 'brat'?" she exclaimed loudly, finally losing her temper. "My name's Kim Skyler, and I'm taking James back to my place to get some treatment for those scrapes! Dad says you can get really ill from them if you don't clean them up proper."
"That's not a concern" Jessie huffed, pulling James' sobbing form away from Nico's grasp. "We have more important matters to be attending to, and James is perfectly capable of cleaning his own wounds"
Kim looked most upset at having her newest friend removed so forcefully from her company, but Jessie ignored this and turned to leave, directing James alongside her. She was far too concerned with seeking the antidote to their current state of body to worry over a young girl's loneliness. Meowth's gaze met the studied displeased face of Pikachu while its owner waved his Pokedex around Nico with much puzzlement.
"Wait..." Misty murmured ponderously. "Kim Skyler? You any relation to Jonathan Skyler?"
"Yeah, he's my dad..." the figure replied dismissively. Brock gasped.
"No way! He's the keeper of unusual variations of Pokémon, isn't he?"
Jessie froze in her tracks and turned around slowly, just in time to see Kim nodding. Ash's Pokedex cut in with a beep of acknowledgement.
"That would explain why this thing's reading Nico as a Ditto then" Misty remarked, pointing at the device. Ash almost stood to attention at the mentioning of the name.
"Really?" he exclaimed excitedly. "But it looks like Brock, not a Pokémon"
His companions groaned while Kim's saddened face lightened a little with a giggle.
"Nico can turn into anything!" Kim exclaimed, causing the tanned face of her Pokémon in human form to erupt into a wide bashful grin.
"Wow! Can it turn into a Tyranitar?" Ash inquired hopefully. Misty and Brock sweatdropped, their expressions indicating they figured there was an obvious answer to that question. But Kim was about to surprise them.
"Actually he hasn't quite figured out how to do Pokémon yet" she murmured sheepishly, while Nico returned to his more familiar pinkish state and bounded into her arms.
"Besides, he seems to enjoy being people anyway. Maybe because he knows it makes me feel less lonely"
As she finished this sentence, Kim looked down at her shoes and clasped Nico close with a small sigh.
"Daddy is always busy with work," she murmured, a tear running down her face. "So he never has time for me and Nico. And none of the other kids in town want to play with us; they’re jealous of the fact I live in a big mansion with lots of rare Pokémon.”
"Rare...Pokémon..." Jessie repeated these words softly, a sickly smile widening upon her face the whole time. James sniffled and wiped at his eyes as he listened to Kim's mournful story. Misty seemed equally as moved.
"They're fun to play with..." the girl continued. "But sometimes, I just want a human friend. Someone that I can talk to. Someone that will talk back. I'd never seen James around before... I thought he might like to play with me after I'd bandaged him up."
"Of course he would!"
Jessie's cheerful exclamation caused the trio to turn their attentions from Kim and look astounded at her for just a split second. Misty was the first to catch on, but it seemed her adversary already had a contingency plan.
"These wounds look much worse than I imagined" she reacted dramatically, causing the boy to look up worriedly. "James is definitely going to need your help to get him back to health. And I'm sure he'd be delighted to spend some time with you. I know I would"
"Really?" Kim squealed, grabbing James' hand before he had a chance to react. "That's wonderful! Come on, I got so much to show you two!"
"Hold on a minute..." Brock spoke up, attempting to stand between Kim and her unwilling new playmate. "You really can't play with them"
"Why not?" Kim snapped, looking up moodily. Brock returned the face with equal enthusiasm.
"I just know they're up to something" he concluded. Jessie put on an expression of mock upset; it looked like she was enjoying this greatly.
"Who, me? How dreadfully inconsiderate of you! I only wish to see that my companion gets these nasty grazes treated in the best possible manner. And its not fair for Kim to have to be lonely when we can just as easily spend a day with her." From the sound of her tone of voice she seemed to be implying 'we' in the wider sense of the word than just herself, James and Meowth. Misty eyed up Brock expectantly.
"She has a point, you know. It's not like we have any agenda to keep."
Brock bit his lip as he realised what situation he had just drawn himself into
"Well I did want to try and find those..." he trailed off. It was too late, Misty had already made up her mind. Kim's scowl was quick to vanish as she giggled excitedly.
"So you want to play too?"
"We'd love to, Kim" Misty smiled. "Wouldn't we, Ash?"
"Yeah!" the trainer agreed with a massive grin. "I'd love to see the rare Pokémon!"
Misty glowered at him while Kim giggled all the more and motioned for the group to follow her toward a building in the distance. Brock wore a deflated expression. It was clear what was running through his mind; he knew full well that supervising the girl would mean forfeiting an entire day in which he could use a lot better in finding those women.
“Don’t be so selfish!" Misty exclaimed in Ash's direction. "That is not the point of this!” She lowered her voice several notches. "We need to make sure those two don't slip out of line. They have to be up to something more than just an act of hospitality; why else would they have disguised themselves so convincingly as children?"
"Um... perhaps it wasn't a disguise, perhaps they just had a reverse growth spurt" Ash suggested. Pikachu shook his head and sweatdropped.
Little did the Pokémon know just how close to the truth his trainer had been.
"What are you doing?" James hissed in Jessie's direction as the figures and their feline counterpart tagged along between Kim and their other, taller associates.
"I could ask da self same question" Meowth piped up. "Have youse finally cracked? I thought'cha wanted ta find the cure fer dat spring wata!"
"That can wait" Jessie smirked. "Didn't you hear that kid? Her home is chock full of rare Pokémon. This is our finest opportunity yet. While the twerps act as a distraction we can snatch the valuable goods right from under their noses!"
"Hey I neva t'ought o' dat" Meowth grinned mischievously, while James looked on with noticeable doubt. "Good t'inkin, Jess!"
"I know." she chuckled, rubbing her small hands together.
"I know."