James returned to the location of the rest of the group after receiving a new set of casual clothes from Ruby to discover a somewhat uncomfortable scene. Kim was stood before the sofa upon which her sickened-looking guests were slouched with an expression upon her face that closely resembled a scolding mother.  

            "That was real mean of you guys to upset Gringo like that…” she snapped. “You told me you really liked his food!”

          Upon hearing this James stepped into view, his eyebrows raised in a mixture of surprise and upset.

            "You ate without me?" he exclaimed.

            "Well you were taking so long to get back" Jessie groaned. “But don't be too concerned. We just found out it was served up by a toxic blob of purple goo”

            "Right now I couldn't care less who or what was dishing out food" James protested, while his stomach did the same. "I'm starved!"

            “Gringo’s very self-conscious you know…” Kim continued, rather haughtily for such a young girl. “I said sorry on their behalf but with the way they hurt his feelings it's going to be a while before he'll feel like cooking another meal. Sorry, James."

            The boy whined miserably at this, but Kim had already thought of what she considered an apt enough distraction.

            "Tell you what" she spoke up cheerfully.

            "We can pass the time by taking a swim!"

            Ash, Brock, Misty and Jessie's faces all brightened up with enthusiasm at this suggestion. After all, what better way to cool off than a relaxing dip? But James' reaction was completely different; he uttered a somewhat frightened yelp and began to look panicked. Everyone gave him confused looks.

            "What's up?" Kim inquired. "Don't you want to go swimming?"

            James shook his head furiously. It was certainly true at this moment in time; there was no way he wished to stir up Kim's suspicions by becoming an adult again, especially when Brock and his companions had so bluntly linked their names to the Team Rocket organization earlier. Jessie stared at him like he had lost his mind. She couldn't understand why on earth James would refuse a chance to cool off from the raging summer temperatures. Nevertheless, Kim took his words to heart.

            "Okay then! How about a game of hide and seek in the garden?"

            "Sure!" James smiled widely, while the others muttered bemusedly in the background. As the group was led from the room Jessie flashed her partner a very dark glare indeed.

            "You'd better have a really good reason for turning down an opportunity like that" she hissed.

            "Oh yeah, its good alright" James remarked in lowered tones. The serious expression on his face was more than enough to tell Jessie that he meant business. "And this is neither the time nor the place to tell you about it. But we can use this game of Kim's in our favour.

            Here's what I want you to do..."

            Kim leapt out into the bright sunlight and was immediately greeted by a small blue creature with a finned head and tail and orange star-shaped gills on its cheeks. The Pokemon threw itself at her, causing the girl to topple onto the grass, chuckling as it tried to nibble her fingers. Further shapes appeared from the foliage shortly after; one looked like an elongated Furret with fuzzy-tipped ears, another closely resembled a large green spotted, frilled acorn with eyes.

            "Wow.. Kim wasn't kidding when she said about rare Pokemon" Misty remarked in awe as Ash pointed his Pokedex in various directions, giggling to himself as it uttered its usual noise of recognition and began to reel off appropriate information.

            "I've never seen any of these species before"

            "They're not rare at all" James sniffed. "They're simply from other regions that you uncultured twerps haven't visited. I just so happen to be a well-travelled soul whose passage has extended across both Tatto, Hoenn and beyo-"

            Before the boy had a chance to digress further Kim had clasped onto his hand and him and dragged the others into some sort of order around her. Brock muttered disinterestedly while Ash complained that he hadn't finished aiming his Pokedex at everything yet but Misty soon brought them both up to standard by jabbing them in the ribs with each of her elbows.

            “Ready?” Kim said, shifting from one foot to the other in a state of energy-fuelled enthusiasm as the Pokemon skittered excitedly around her. The rest of the group murmured in acknowledgment between themselves.

            “Ok!”

            With that, Kim placed her hands over her eyes and began to count, signalling to the rest of the gang to start looking for places to hide. So they retreated into the immense mass of greenery around the garden in an attempt to find them. It was time for James to put his plan into action; to seek Jessie out and explain the temporary status of their childhood. Only he hadn’t quite accounted for the thickness of the interlocking array of trees and bushes. Now he was buried deeply amongst them.

            James decided it best to stop for a moment before he became even more lost. The foliage in a back garden seemed almost like a jungle to a figure his size. And he wasn’t the only one experiencing problems with nature either. Jessie struggled through the bushes, trying to brush twigs and leaves from her clothes and busy grumbling to herself about how incredibly wrong such a simple plan had turned out.

            “The only thing that’s denser than this foliage is James’ brain. James! Where have you gone, you-”

            Splort.

            There was a nasty wet sensation upon the top of the girl's head. Jessie's eyes widened and she swung around to see what it was that had come into contact with her hair. Her eyes met with those of a Likitung who, due to Jessie's current height was towering over her with a wide grin on its vacant features. Jessie yelled in alarm and rapidly escaped between the trees; she wasn't sure where she was heading but at that point in time she wasn't particularly concerned, as long as it was away from the Pokemon who had just drooled in her hair.

            Looking over her shoulder Jessie continued to scamper mindlessly for a few moments until she unintentionally ran into something that was standing in her way. Both figures keeled over, the latter uttering an irritated exclamation.

            "Hoi! Watch where ya goin', Jess!"

            "Meowth?" the girl spluttered, sitting upright. Sure enough, the cream-furred Pokemon was poised in front of her, arms folded.

            "In da flesh."

            "What are you doing back here so soon?" Jessie snapped, swiftly regaining her nerve. "Surely you can't have found an antidote already"

            "Nope, but I have found somet'ing dat'll interest youse even more" Meowth remarked in a matter-of-fact way. "I jus' so happened ta get a listen inta Butch and Cassidy's conversation. An' it seems we ain't lookin' deep enough"

            "Stop talking in riddles and give it to me straight" Jessie muttered, reddening. Meowth smirked to himself at the sight of his stunted and ruffled companion.

            "Dere's more to dis mansion dat meets da eye" he explained. "Namely, what's inside da walls. Apparently, dere's a locked up room dat contains treasures far more valuable dan any Pokemon we've seen today. Dat's what dose two stuffed up elites are afta"

            Jessie's face grew an even deeper shade of crimson at this point. She clenched her little fists so hard that her arms began to shake.

            "Ooooh... that sneaky little" she hissed, gritting her teeth. "Kid-size or not there is no way I'm letting her into this place. Those treasures are going to be mine and that's final! When had they planned to break in?"

            "I didn't catch dat part" Meowth replied softly. "Had ta bolt when I realised dey'd noticed me"

            "What?" Jessie exclaimed. "What on earth gave you that impression?"

            "Well da impression of Cassidy's boot in my butt was a pretty big hint" the Pokemon muttered, turning round to reveal the large red mark he had been referring to. Jessie groaned slightly.

            "If we don't know when to expect them then we'll have to do the next best thing" she decided.

            "An' dat is?"

            "Steal the goods before they get a chance to" Jessie told him. Then she lifted up her hand and prodded at the gelatinous translucent mass upon the top of her head with a thoroughly disgusted expression. "But that'll have to wait. My beauty comes first and this vile goop is certainly not contributing to my good looks"

            "What happened?" Meowth inquired, wincing somewhat.

            "A big dumb Likitung went and drooled on my head" the girl remarked dryly. Meowth chuckled at this.

            "Good t'ing you weren't dis size when you owned a Likitung, eh Jess?"

            Jessie suddenly stood bolt upright, eyes wide and skin paling rapidly. The feline Pokemon choked in alarm as he was grasped by the scruff and thrown forward to meet the girl eye to eye.

            "My Pokemon!" she exclaimed. "My uniform! Where are they?"

            "Well as far I recall, back where youse last left 'em at da spring's edge" Meowth shrugged, before being tossed backward toward the nearest bush.

            "You idiot!" Jessie cried, having great difficulty keeping her voice at a safe volume. "Go and get them before someone else does!"

            "Yeesh, what do I look like? Your slave?" Meowth grumbled

            "You'll look much worse if I don't see my belongings back here in the next five minutes" Jessie remarked, glowering at him. The feline figure returned the expression with surprising emphasis.

            "Pokemon ain'cha belongings, Jess"

            "You know full well what I mean!" the girl snapped, her face turning almost as red as her hair before she turned to storm off in the opposite direction.

            "Now get out there before I do something you'll regret!"

            James had been wandering blindly through the foliage for the past minute or so when he picked up on Jessie's scream of panic not too far away. His concentration shifted somewhat, James spun round to face the direction he believed the sound had come from and his foot caught on something hard, sending him crashing to earth.

            Biting his lip to stop himself yelling out loud, James lifted his head and his gaze became level with that of a very cranky Wartortle who, up until recently had been taking a nap in its shell. The boy put on a rather sheepish expression as he scrambled to his feet while laughing nervously, but the Pokemon definitely wasn't seeing the funny side of things. James found himself propelled across the grass and into a nearby bush as he was hit by a direct blast of icy water.

            The intense nausea overcame the figure yet again, but he was too occupied with making sure the outfit he was wearing would not get torn from his person to take too much notice. Once this task was complete, James crouched low between the twigs and leaves and awaited his body's release from the aching that the drastic size alteration provided. Eventually, the feeling passed over leaving the man in a most inconvenient situation.

            James heaved a deep sigh of relief and tried not to dwell on the low points of this moment. At least he had managed to preserve his child-sized garments this time, and with any luck the hot weather would assist in a more rapid reversal to a more youthful age. In the meantime he was trapped within the confines of the bush without clothing and with no way to signal his position to those he wanted to contact without alerting the attentions of those he didn't.

            "What a predicament" he mumbled, shifting uncomfortably as the sharper parts of the foliage dug into his bare skin. "I sure hope Jess doesn't lose her temper too badly over the fact I'm not there to meet her"

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

            Meeting James was the farthest thing from Jessie's mind as she entered the vast, beautifully ornate bathroom within the Skyler mansion. Her eyes sparkled as she ran her hands over the rim of the marble bathtub, taking in the gold furnishings and pristine speckled lino tiles beneath her feet.

            "I think I've reached heaven," she smiled to herself, reaching up to lock the door behind her before leaning forward and inserting the plug into the bottom of the bath. As it began to fill Jessie shed her small garments into a neat pile beside the laundry basket and pondered extensively over the range of aromatherapy oils that stood on the shelf nearby. Selecting a bottle, the girl unscrewed the lid and poured vast amounts of its contents into the swirling water.

            "Peace, quiet and relaxation away from twerps and silly childish activities. This situation sure has its fair share of perks, I must admit."

            The liquid cascade had reached halfway up the tub so Jessie swiftly turned off the taps and gave the water an experimental dabble with one foot. Satisfied that everything was the correct temperature the girl checked for towels to dry herself with once finished and then carefully slipped into the bath.

            For a few moments Jessie closed her eyes as she immersed herself in utter bliss, but the feeling rapidly deteriorated into something much more uncomfortable. Opening her eyes to try and work out where this sudden pain had come from, the figure let out a tiny yelp as she witnessed her own limbs stretching to an accompaniment of unsettling crunches and cracks.

            Too shocked to even utter another sound, all that Jessie could do was wait until the transformation was complete. Afterward, she sat in silence while her mind sifted through the previous occurrences. Had this been the reason for James' panicked reaction toward Kim mentioning swimming? Jessie began to question whom could have given him this information, while attempting to battle back the inevitable regret from jumping the gun and not waiting for James to find her. It was too late for such emotions now; she would simply have to conceal herself from Kim's sight.

            Lucky for her the youth's attentions were more focused on her partner anyway.

            Stepping from the bathtub and draining it of water, Jessie took to drying herself thoroughly before seeking some kind of covering. Upon finding nothing suitable the woman reluctantly wrapped herself in one of the larger towels and reached out to open the bathroom door to sneak into the hallway. The resulting sight was most unexpected. Jessie froze in her tracks, eyes wide as Ruby stood before her, arms tightly folded and a dark glower upon her face. For the first few seconds Jessie's mind struggled to think of some way out of this extremely tight predicament, then suddenly she realised something.

            "Hey!" she exclaimed, pointing at Ruby. "You're one of those women that attempted to smother James this morning!"

            Ruby raised an eyebrow at this, temporarily distracted.

            "A companion of his, I take it?"

            "I'm his work partner" Jessie corrected, making specific emphasis on the 'work' portion of the sentence. Ruby smirked at this.

            "I see... you are certainly quite privileged to be able to work with such a charming, cooperative and especially handsome man as him."

            The redhead swelled noticeably at this unwanted attention in James' direction. It appeared from Ruby's words that she had also encountered James as an adult. And if James had reverted back to being a child again then it was more than likely that her own womanhood was not going to last very long either.

            "What do you mean, 'cooperative'?" Jessie snapped. "What did you do to him?"

            "Oh nothing much..." Ruby looked at her nails for a moment. "Just a little modelling, a short chat, a few cuddles..."

             Jessie flinched. Ruby didn't even have to look up to work out how cold the woman's expression had become.

            "Okay, so the last part didn't happen in reality" she added. "But seriously...you react to affection like its a bad thing"

            "It is" Jessie muttered, furrowing her brow.

            "It leaves people open to manipulation..."

            The figure trailed off as a thought hit her like a brick. It was more than obvious that Ruby had taken a liking to James; maybe there was a chance she could manoeuvre the situation to her advantage.

            "So tense" Ruby chuckled. "Seems you did need the relaxation bath oil more than I"

            "Huh?" Jessie spluttered, suddenly thrown from her train of thought. "How'd you know- ?"

            "I could smell it from here" Ruby explained, wrinkling her nose slightly. "With that potency I'd be surprised if there's any left in the bottle. But that's beside the point. You do know I could easily dial the police right now and have you hauled away for breaking into my dad's property and potentially taking advantage of our resources, don't you?"

            "I did not break in!" Jessie snapped. For once it was the truth. "Your sister invited me. And she said I was welcome to use the washing facilities after I'd got unceremoniously dribbled on by that Likitung in the garden"

            "Invited you?" Ruby snorted. "Why on earth would Kim want to invite someone of your age to play with-

            Hold on a minute... don't tell me you bathed in Jyngu spring aswell?"

            Jessie nodded, somewhat guiltily. Ruby uttered a little sigh; it was hard to tell whether this was out of amusement or disbelief.

            "And they laugh when I insist that a sign and a weak little fence isn't enough. There's one thing that still doesn't make sense, though..." Ruby turned on Jessie, eyes blazing. "What reason did you have to accept my sister's invitation?"

            "James was hurt and he needed treatment!" Jessie exclaimed, rather surprised by the seemingly placid woman's sudden outburst. Ruby immediately calmed, her face suddenly taking on a worried tone.

            "James? Hurt?"

            "Yes..." Jessie muttered, composing herself as her interrogator drew away. "I only accompanied him to make sure he wasn't in here too long, but I hadn't accounted for how difficult it would be to pull a guy away from some little kid's attentions"

            "So Kim's grown fond of James too" Ruby concluded, a hint of jealousy in her voice. "How...cute."

            Jessie began to smile mischievously as her mind whirred back into action. It was all so simple; Ruby would no doubt have knowledge and possibly even access to the contents of the hidden room inside the mansion. With some careful direction, James could easily gain insight into the room's contents without having to lift a finger.

            "Tell you what" she spoke at last. "I'll get you more time with James, and you make it your top priority to find us a permanent reversal for that spring water. While you're at it make sure Kim doesn't find out that we are really adults. Have we got a deal?"

            "Deal" Ruby reached out and the two women shook hands firmly. With that Jessie watched her latest victim glide cheerfully down the hallway and a dark smirk appeared upon her face.

            "How convenient" she remarked softly. "How very convenient indeed.."