"I don't know about this..." James whined softly, as he sat perched on the edge of the counter in the first aid room watching the Chansey prepare a selection of tiny bottles and implements on a tray. "No offense, but I'm not particularly used to having my injuries treated by a Pokemon."
Diane hadn't appeared to have taken umbrage in the slightest. She whirled around with the tray poised neatly between her two stubby arms, the cheerful smile having not left her face in those past few minutes.
"Cha-chansey chanseey" she dictated, placing the tray beside James and motioning toward the boy's grazes while waving a large damp cloth in her other hand. James looked at it tentatively.
"Okay...but at least let me smell it first" he frowned. "If that cloth has any kind of rubbing alcohol on it then no way are you putting it on me"
"Chan-sey chaan!" Diane giggled, but allowed James to sniff the cloth anyway. After a moment of deduction, the figure came to the conclusion that the liquid it was soaked in was simply warm water and allowed the Pokemon to gently rub at the sore spots on his chest. James closed his eyes; the sensation was strangely pleasant.
The next sensation was far from it. Diane reeled backward in alarm, a tube of antiseptic cream in one hand, as James uttered an ear-piercing yell.
"AUGH! IT BURNS! IT BUUUURNS!"
It appeared that James' lessened pain threshold was no match for the sensation that medicinal ointments often provided. In a state of complete panic, the Pokemon's mind searched for the first thing related to burning and grasped hold of it, filling a nearby receptacle with cold water and throwing it over the child upon the counter.
A weird silence followed. James sat there shuddering with his eyes still closed; overcome with the coldness for a moment. Suddenly he didn't feel particularly well. Some kind of terrible sensation had overcome his body, almost as if each of his limbs had been tied to four rampaging Feraligatrs, all heading in opposite directions. The next thing he heard (and experienced) was a succession of loud, gut-churning crunches followed by a sharp ripping and finally a blood-curdling scream coupled with a loud thud.
James blinked and raised his head, yelping slightly as it made contact with the cupboards above. Turning around with an almost accusing expression on his face, the figure's eyes widened when he caught sight of his reflection staring back at him from the mirror behind.
He appeared to have regained his adulthood. On a more embarrassing note, the sudden size alteration had cost him the use of his garments. Thankfully the shock of witnessing such a transformation had caused Diane to faint and thus there was no one about to see his current state of affairs. Quickly, James slipped down from the counter and snatched a towel that was hanging over the handle of the trolley before wrapping it around himself.
His first intention was to get out of sight as soon as possible; he would have to ponder over the return of his manhood later.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Kim cheerfully led her companions to the dining room, arranging them neatly around a long oak table before raising her hands over her head and clapping three times. A few seconds later a Mr. Mime materialised in the room, wearing a bowtie and holding a cloth draped upon one arm.
“Mime?” he inquired.
“Could you inform the chef that we would like to eat?” Kim told him in the politest of tones. The Mr. Mime nodded profusely, and disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.
“Excuse me? But how does that thing know what we wanted for dinner?” Jessie asked, puzzled.
“He’s psychic, he’ll just tell the chef to make the meals you lot were thinking of” Kim replied simply. A goofy expression had descended upon Ash’s face at this point. Misty flashed him an uneasy sideward glance.
"Why do I get the feeling this table's going to break under the strain of everything?" she muttered.
Half an hour later the gang tucked into their preferred meals. Thankfully the waiter had known better than to reel off everything Ash's mind had been thinking of and had chosen the first five items on his mental list; making the resulting arrangement of food a lot less overbearing. The trainer still insisted on boasting to Kim, even if it was with his mouth full.
“An thas how I gota badge frm Olfne Gm…” he crunched, spraying crumbs all over the tablecloth. He opened up the side of his waistcoat to show off his array of badges…again. Jessie rolled her eyes.
Trust the twerp to spout on about his stupid badges, she thought. Kim was a lot more impressed.
“Wow Ash…that’s really cool! You must be such a great trainer…”
“Well…I’ve had a lot of practise…” Ash remarked, semi-modestly.
Yeah… Jessie grumbled. At my expense. I wonder where James is...surely getting some little graze cleared up doesn't take that long.
She heard a slight noise from by her foot and carefully peered under the tablecloth. Nico jiggled playfully beside the leg of the chair she was sitting on. Jessie smirked at this, before leaning down and gently prodding at the top of the Ditto's head. The creature swayed from side to side, grinning.
"I swear he likes the sound of his own voice," Jessie murmured in lowered tones, motioning upward in the general direction where Ash was continuing to relay every aspect of his journey from day one. Brock and Misty waited patiently, uttering the occasional sigh as their younger companion made emphasis to the parts he made particular contribution to. Jessie couldn't help chuckling as Nico arranged himself into a miniature replica of Ash and pretended to imitate his endless ramblings.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
Jessie cursed as the sudden prod of Brock's finger in the middle of her back caused her to slam her head upward into the underside of the table. The girl wrenched the afflicted appendage out into the open, a dark scowl upon her face.
"Now now, Jessie" Misty snickered as Kim looked on, rather stunned. "Those are no words for anyone to be saying, let alone a child"
"Oh cram it" Jessie growled, poking moodily at her spaghetti Bolognese and wondering if it was worth sacrificing to see it down the front of Misty's cream-coloured top. She decided against it; this was the first meal she'd had since yesterday, after all.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Somewhere in the corridors of the mansion, James slouched against a wall and complained softly to himself. Despite having returned to his proper age and discovering an expensive silk dressing gown of appropriate size to adorn himself, with the man seemed none the happier. All the aches the morning's escapades had granted him had made an unwelcome return. On top of that he was practically trapped within the mansion's walls; no way could he show his face looking like this, and Jessie wasn't intending to leave without capturing some rare Pokemon for the boss first.
James heaved a loud sigh. Sometimes Jessie's forceful attitude really tried his patience.
An expectant cough caused the man to look up in surprise. Standing over him was the tall figure of a young lady with spiked dark brown hair, dressed in a camisole and knee-length skirt with neat flowered sandals. James immediately recognized her as one of the women that had attempted to smother him with over-adoration earlier in the day. With that realisation in the back of his mind he felt his body tense instinctively.
"What are you doing in my house?" she inquired firmly. "And furthermore, what are you doing wearing my bathrobe?"
The latter question caught James off-guard even moreso than the former. He began to blush profusely as he tried to scramble to his feet, which caused the woman's accusing stare to soften considerably and an amused smile to emerge upon her face.
"Don't tell me" she began. "Jyngu Spring victim, right?"
"H-how did you guess?" James exclaimed, trying to find some steadiness in his voice.
"Your face bears more than a passing resemblance to that of a boy I met this morning" the woman told him with a smirk. "I'm Ruby; no doubt my sister told you of me while her Ditto pulled its well-oiled imitation prank on us. That Pokemon can be such a pain sometimes, but that doesn't matter now. What's your name?"
"Uh... it's James."
"Well, James..." the woman murmured. "Now I'm faced with a most perplexing question."
"And that is?" James asked worriedly.
"Which of your forms is cuter. I just can't decide!" came the bright reply. James shifted uncomfortably; he'd never felt particularly at ease with this kind of attention, not to mention an unusual lack of further reaction over his presence inside the building.
"So I'm guessing you came here to try and find the antidote, right?" Ruby spoke calmly.
"Well it doesn't look like I'll be needing it now," James remarked, looking down at himself. He flinched as the woman prodded the side of his face.
"Water," she stated bluntly, looking at the moisture on the tip of her finger. "Just as I suspected"
"What do you mean?" James spluttered, somewhat indignant at the sudden invasion of his personal space.
"You became an adult after getting wet, right?" the figure continued patiently. James looked at her for a moment.
"Well yeah..." he murmured. "But-"
"Exactly" Ruby cut in.
"This is only a temporary reversal. Without the antidote you'll just go back to being a kid again in half an hour or so"
James felt surprisingly relieved at this. He didn't wish to be cured unless Jessie was dealt with in the same way. But that didn't mean he couldn't seek out the means to regain adulthood permanently for use at the appropriate time. He looked up at Ruby with a deeply hopeful look in his eyes.
"Do you know what the antidote is then?"
Ruby smiled to herself. Opportunity was knocking and she certainly wasn't going to hesitate over opening the door.
"I might do" she remarked casually with a flick of her hair. "But its not something to be handed out lightly. I mean... there are warnings not to enter into that spring, you know."
The man bit his lip somewhat guiltily. It was true; he had pretty much put himself in this mess.
"I'll do anything you want!" he protested. "Anything at all, I just need that cure! I can't be like this for the rest of my life."
Ruby pretended to think this over, while James felt a notion of regret beginning to creep into his gut. In his haste he'd certainly left the options open a little too wide.
"Hm... anything, eh?" she nodded at last. "Well... there is something I've been needing to do for a good while. I'm a fashion designer, you see. Lately I've been branching out into the field of children's clothing, but I have no available models to test the designs out on."
"What about your sister?" James asked, puzzled.
"Kim doesn't wish to be a part of my work" Ruby snorted. "She's far too occupied with playtime. Besides, these are boys clothes. What do you say? Will you be my model for a little while? For the sake of fashion...and your manhood, of course."
James' face had already brightened considerably. He had been considering far worse assignments than simply trying on kids' garments.
"Sure!" he nodded profusely.
"I'll do it!"
***~~~***~~***~***~~***
Aw man... why did I say I'd do it?
Pushing a strip of red fabric away from his face, the now more youthful countenance of James sighed heavily as he poised upon a velvet stool and tried to look as regal as possible. This was extremely hard to accomplish, especially when caught up in such a hideous arrangement. The figure's upper body was clothed in a purple and yellow blotched jacket with coattails that reached down to the ankles. Further down, his legs almost appeared to billow outward in a pair of comical silk pantaloons. His feet were adorned with something he'd expect ballet dancers to dress in. But the most bizarre arrangement of them all had to be what had been deposited on his head. James had begun to wonder, what with all the tassels and beads hanging down his face, whether he'd been mistakenly been given a kite to wear instead of a hat.
Ruby stood a few metres away, camera in one hand and a lopsided smile on one face. Most of the time was spent arranging James into a variety of (what she considered to be) extravagant poses with an occasional snapshot in between.
"Tell me again..." James remarked dryly. "Are these 'outfits' for casual or entertainment purposes?"
"Neither, ya silly" Ruby giggled. "They're cultural. One isn't meant to wear them, they're meant to admire them as individual aspects of the artist's personality and expression. For the sake of composition though, they do look far better on a human model than a display dummy."
At least the dummy wouldn't look any more of a dummy than it already is, James moped. This is so humiliating. I am so glad Jessie and Meowth can't see me now.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Fifteen minutes later, the plates were cleared and every stomach was filled to bursting. There was not a look of malcontent or disapproval between any of the diners, only satisfied smiles and murmured comments.
“That’s got to be the most food I’ve eaten in ages…” Ash remarked dozily.
“Absolutely exquisite” Misty agreed.
“My compliments to the chef” Brock burped.
“Gringo will be very happy to know that you enjoyed his meals so much” Kim exclaimed. “He must hear your comments for himself!”
She clapped her hands again and the Mr. Mime appeared in a ready stance.
“Rafer, please fetch Gringo for me” Kim asked simply. The Pokemon nodded and vanished once more, leaving Jessie to ponder over the blob of purplish residue on the napkin that had been provided with her plate of food. Her puzzlement was soon accounted for, as she heard a noise from behind, not unlike that the sound of Nico's movements.
“Grriiyme!” came a happy voice. Everyone turned around to see a large Grimer, wearing a chef’s hat and holding a spatula. It looked very pleased with itself.
“Go on…” Kim motioned excitedly toward the poison type slime Pokemon. “Tell Gringo how great dinner was!”
The colour had drained from all faces around the table at this point. Ash bit his lip while Brock fiddled uneasily with his napkin and Misty looked extremely nauseous indeed.
“I think I need the bathroom” she laughed nervously, and rapidly exited.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
"Okay, I've modelled your 'clothes'" James stated bluntly, arms folded. "Now its your turn to fulfil your side of the bargain"
"Aw, you're so cute when you got that little pouty lip," Ruby cooed, only to receive a cold glower in her direction.
"Stop trying to change the subject!" James snapped. "With the way you're acting I'm starting to think you don't even know what the spring water antidote-
...is."
He had noticed a distinct change in Ruby's expression at this point. The woman's face had grown noticeably guilty.
"You...you don't know what the spring water antidote is, do you?" he remarked shakily, aiming his eyes at the floor. "How could you manipulate me like this?"
"I'm sorry, James" Ruby sighed. "That was rather selfish of me. I should never have let my want for better photographs override my morals"
"At least give me something practical to wear" James replied bitterly.
"I'll do better than that" Ruby stated. "You shall have some clothes and that Jyngu Spring antidote."
James looked up in surprise at this point.
"But I thought you didn't-"
"That is true" Ruby assured him. "I don't know what the antidote is, but there's nothing stopping me from trying to find out."
The woman almost toppled backward as James unexpectedly threw himself at her legs, grasping onto them like a Slakoth to a tree branch.
"Oh thank you!" he cried, overcome with happiness. Ruby smiled to herself at this, her conscience redeemed.
"It's the least I can do" she said.