Thank you, Pikachu


He was near.
So near.
He almost touched him for a moment, just few inches and he could have grabbed him, but the wooden 
floor of the old abandoned house was old and rotten and it crashed under his weight.
The fall lasted just a few seconds, then the pain, then nothing.
When he woke up he was surrounded with darkness.
"Jessie?"
The echo of is voice faded far away, but it had no answer.
"Jessie? Meowth? Are you here?"
Nothing.
He had to have been unconscious for a long time, the house looked empty now.
"Why did Jessie and Meowth go away?" he thought while he was searching for a exit in the darkness 
"OK, I admit that trying to trap Pikachu in this house wasn't a good idea, but why did they have to 
leave me alone?"
James sighed "Maybe they don't care for me..."
Tiny sunbeams coming trough the old boards revealed an exit to him.
In a few time James was out of the house: the sun was high in the sky and was hurting his eyes.
"It's so strange...when we entered the house the sun was setting...did I stay in that house all 
night?"
And...where did Jessie and Meowth go?"
No one was in the surroundings.
The only thing to do was to reach the nearest town.

The main street was crowded and nobody seemed to notice him.
James tried to stop a few passerby to ask for some infos about his partners, but everyone just 
ignored him and kept walking.
"Maybe they saw my uniform and they're are afraid of a Team Rocket member..."
 "Pika pika?!"
James turned with a startle: Pikachu was near his leg and was looking at him in wonder.
"Chuuuuu?"
Was that the same pikachu they had tried to catch millions of times? Why wasn't he trying to run 
away? He just had to stretch out a hand to catch him...
James jumped to grab the pokemon.
It was no use. Pikachu run away with just a little skip.
"Pika! Pika!"
The little yellow pokemon run down the street.
Once in a while he stopped to look at James, as if he wanted to be sure he was following him, but he 
was careful to be far enough to not be caught.
Pikachu stopped on the back of a big pink building.
"Pikachuuuuu! Pikachu, where are you?"
James hid behind a tree when he heard Ash's voice.
"Pika piiii!"
Ash ran towards the pokemon and lifted him in his arms.
"Pikachu! Finally I found you! Where did you go?"
"Pika! Pika pika!"
Ash sighed.
"You wanted to stay alone for a while, right Pikachu? I understand you. You're sad too, aren't you?"
The boy bent his head and walked towards the entrance of the building.
Pikachu looked at James over Ash's shoulder.
"Pika pika."
Ash and Pikachu disappeared behind a corner and James went out of his hide-out.
"Pikachu was acting strange...and why are they so sad?"
James went nearer the building: all the windows of the ground floor but one had their curtains shut.
James looked trough the only window he could look inside. 
He could see Brock and Misty sitting on a bench, while Ash and Pikachu were standing on the door of 
the room.
Ash entered the room and asked something. Misty answered and slowly shook her head.
James felt that someone else was in the room too, but he couldn't see who was there.
Pikachu looked at the window and called James again.
James decided to go and talk with his enemies. 
He ran towards the entrance of the building, but he stopped all of a sudden when he saw the red 
cross on a sign.
"Maybe they're sad because one of they pokemon has been wounded...but wait...this isn't a poke 
center... this is a hospital... but they're all in the waiting room... Jessie! Maybe it's Jessie the 
ill one!"
He ran into the building and stopped on the door of the waiting room: Meowth was there,  he was 
curled on a chair and looked distressed!
Jessie had to be there too!
Nobody noticed James.
"It's impossible..." Meowth whispered.
Misty stood up and took Meowth in her arms, then she sat back on the bench.
"It's horrible, I know. The doctor said there are no hopes...we can just pray for a miracle."
Meowth sobbed. "That's so unfair! We were friends! I can't stand this!"
"We've always been enemies, but it's so sad when a young person dies..." Ash said.
Misty hugged Meowth and began wiping off his tears. But there were tears on her cheeks too.
James grew pale.
Jessie...Jessie was dying.
Jessie.
The only friend he ever had.
The only partner of thousands of missions.
Jessie...Jessie couldn't die! She couldn't leave him alone!
He couldn't stay there. He couldn't stand to see her dying...
James was about to run away from that horrible place when Pikachu called him.
"Pika pika! Pika!"
James looked at the electric pokemon. Pikachu called him again and run in the nearby room.
He followed him.
In the room there was a bed, half hidden by a screen. 
And there was Jessie.
An alive Jessie.
She was kneeled by the bed and she was asleep.
Her eyes were reddened and her hair was tangled, but she was Jessie.
She wasn't dying, she was well.
Pikachu was on the bed and was looking at him.
James went near the screen, but he already knew what he was going to see.
"It's me the one's dying, right Pikachu?"
"Pika..."
James smiled and looked at his body that was laying on the bed. Jessie was holding his hand.
"That's all right..."
"Pika?"
"Don't be sad for me, Pikachu. Jessie is well, that's all right..."
He bent on his sleeping partner and touched her cheek with a kiss she couldn't ever feel.
"I've to go Pikachu...farewell, tell Jessie I love her..."
"Pikaaaaaa! Pika pika pika!!!"
Pikachu jumped in front of James to stop him.
"I'd like to stay, believe me, but I'm dying..."
"Pika! Pika pika? Pika!"
Pikachu pointed at Jessie.
James caressed her hair.
"James...don't leave me alone James, I beg you..." she whispered while sleeping.
Jessie was weeping...was weeping for James.
He burst out in tears too and tried to hug her and cry together, but the world began to fade and 
then there was nothing but darkness.
Darkness and pain.
Then a bright light that made his head to hurt.
And a voice, Jessie's voice.
"Doctor! He's waking up!"
Jessie's voice was nice, so happy.
James could see a yellow blur in front of his eyes.
"Pika pika!"
He realized it all of a sudden...
He was alive.
James smiled in spite of pain.
"Thank you Pikachu."