The Thrill of Defeat, Part Eight
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"Well, James, our soul-mates have the best sex theory still needs a lot of
testing, but judging from last night and this morning, I'd definitely say it's a
theory that has merit!" Jessie remarked after we'd finished. "The second time
was even better than the first!"
Tom: An’ it took a few hours again?
I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, honey."
She gave me a kiss on the cheek and tousled my hair. "Well, it's true! I
couldn't ask for a better friend...or lover than you, James."
"Neither could I, Jess," I replied as I held her closer and stroked her hair.
We probably could've spent the rest of the day lying together on my sleeping
bag, just cuddling and talking.
Jerry: Stark naked? With Pokémon (or Trainers) wandering about? That… really doesn’t sound like a good idea. Wouldn’t you at least get cold?
But our stomachs soon reminded us that we hadn't
eaten since lunch yesterday.
Guardian’s Song: …Jerry, would you mind passing the brain bleach?
Jerry: I would, but I don’t have any.
Guardian’s Song: Oh, that’s right…
Jessie blushed as her stomach started growling.
I blushed too and placed a hand on my own growling stomach. "I guess I should
get up and make breakfast, huh?"
She nodded.
"What would you like to eat?" I asked as I put on a clean pair of boxer shorts
Jerry: (James) - I had to remove a Weedle from them first -
and my blue silk bathrobe. "I'll make whatever you want."
"Well, a special occasion calls for a special meal...and I can't think of a more
special occasion than this!" came her reply.
"You're absolutely right, Jess! Two bowls of cold cereal coming up!" I laughed.
Jessie picked up her panties and fired them at me like a slingshot.
I caught the panties before they hit me in the face and winked at her.
Guardian’s Song: Credit where credit is due… I actually found that kind of funny. (Subtract the “I laughed”, though. That line calls for a deadpan delivery.)
"Just
kidding, honey. How does French toast sound?"
Guardian’s Song: You may remember I mentioned this at the start…
Her annoyed expression softened into a smile again. "Sounds great!"
"French toast it is, then!" I said, blowing her a kiss.
Once Jessie had put on her own bathrobe, she stoked the embers of our dying
campfire and helped me get the cooking utensils out of my backpack. Then, she
snaked her arms around my waist and watched as I mixed up a little powdered milk
and added some eggs and sugar.
"You know, it's kind of ironic," she said at length.
I dipped a few slices of potato bread into the egg mixture and placed them in
the skillet. "What is?" I asked.
"What you said earlier about how we use the rough times in our lives as chances
to strengthen our relationship," she explained. "As painful as losing is, it
always seems to give us opportunities that we wouldn't have had if we'd won."
Guardian’s Song: What?! She’s going to repeat all the exposition from a second person? Oh GAD! I thought I was shameless!
…Oh, good Merlin. She’s not even putting a new spin on the exposition. That’s it, she’s worse than Ayn Rand. It’s a good thing I’ve already read through the fics and know there’s no equivalent to “This Is John Galt Speaking”, or I’d consider cutting and running right here.
"Exactly!" I told her. "Good things always come from the bad times. So, there
must be a good reason for all of the bad things that happen to us. There's not a
doubt in my mind about that."
"Last night, I had a dream," Jessie continued, resting her head on my shoulder.
"It wasn't any kind of fantasy scenario, though -- it was more like flashbacks
of some of the things we've been through over the past few months. But I was
apart from the action, like a spectator watching the events instead of taking
part in them. I saw the two of us flying away in the balloon after you gave up
your inheritance to be with me,
Jerry: (Meowth) Well, I guess I am Snorlax fodder.
I saw us dressed as Princess Dolls and sitting
together on that display stand, I saw you holding me in your arms and telling me
that you loved me...and then I saw the two of us making love!" She paused for a
moment and smiled. "Now that I think about it, the dream seemed to be telling me
something...."
Guardian’s Song: *incoherently* Worse than Ayn Rand! Worse than Ayn Rand!
"And what would that be?" I prompted.
She smiled. "It seemed to be telling me that every time we lose something that
we wanted from life -- your inheritance, my dolls, our badges, Pokemon League --
we seem to find something new about each other in return!"
Guardian’s Song: I cannot believe this! At least Ayn Rand harped on the same theme using different metaphors each time! This is literally rewriting the same message over and over again, near verbatim! How did she think this was a good idea? How did she have fans? How?
I smiled back. "Sounds like a fair trade-off to me, Jess!"
"It's better than that, James!" she replied. "It's so much better!"
I put down my skillet and returned her embrace. "Yeah," I agreed. "We may not
win very often, but the opportunities that losing gives us make it all
worthwhile!"
Guardian’s Song: *reduced to facepalming*
"In that case, here's to a couple of losers!" Jessie laughed.
Guardian’s Song: *double facepalming*
As we leaned in to kiss each other, we heard the sound of footsteps approaching
and a familiar voice saying, "You can say dat again!" Meowth had finally
returned.
Guardian’s Song: Thank you, Meowth… Save us!
…You do not know how literally glad I am to see that cat show up in the text right now. *pause* )8 DON’T tell me we’ll hear the same exposition from a THIRD mouth…
Angry that our kiss had been interrupted...and that we'd just been insulted,
Jessie frowned at him. "Who asked you?!" she grumbled.
"Well, good mornin' ta you too, Jess!" he said sarcastically.
I chuckled at the exchange. "Good morning, Meowth."
Meowth smiled at me and winked. "Mornin', Jimmy. Have fun last night?"
Jessie and I exchanged looks and blushed.
Meowth's smile became a smirk. "Aw, don't be shy! I know James spent all night
launchin' his love-rocket inta Jessie's air-space! Why d'ya think I stayed out
so long?"
My face turned even redder than it already was.
Jerry: *looking a bit green* He should be. I’m feeling embarrassed on Meowth’s behalf for that metaphor…
Tom: …He’ll never get taken seriously again.
Oh, jeez! I knew he was going to
have a field-day with this....
Jessie scowled again. "SHUT UP, MEOWTH!!!"
"What would youse guys prefer I call it, den? The horizontal mambo?" Meowth
asked. His smirk had become a wicked grin.
Jessie pulled out her mallet and waved it menacingly in the cat's face. "You're
going to be calling an ambulance if you keep this up!" she warned him.
Guardian’s Song: Again, credit where credit is due! That was…
…Wait, where did she pull out the mallet FROM? I… O_o That BETTER have fit in her bathrobe pockets… (Yes, I know, hammerspace - but, again, she ought to be consistent. Is this a more realistic take on the Pokémon world, in which Team Rocket repeatedly getting beaten up by Our Heroes actually deals damage, or is it shonen-world with hammerspace and all of that stuff? She has to make up her mind.)
Meowth sweatdropped and held up his paws. "Okay, okay, I won't name off the many
euphemisms I came up with for what youse guys was doin! It's a damn
Guardian’s Song: Swearing Count: |||| |||| |
shame cuz I
had some good ones, too...."
I rolled my eyes and put a few slices of French toast onto a plate. "I think we
need a little quiet time," I sighed as I handed the plate to Meowth.
"Dat'll do it!" Meowth exclaimed as he drowned his toast with maple syrup and
powdered sugar. He then went to the other side of the camp to eat his breakfast
and give us a little privacy.
Jessie facefaulted. "We're never going to hear the end of this, are we?" she
groaned.
"Probably not," I replied. "I wouldn't worry about it, though -- Meowth may make
fun of us, but he's happy for us, Jess!"
"Yeah, I know," she said as the smile returned to her lips. "Meowth is a pain
sometimes, but I'm glad he's here with us -- we'd be lost without him!"
Guardian’s Song: I already mentioned this long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, but I don’t like Meowth being reduced to the third wheel in this fic. I see it in Harry/Hermione fics, if Ron isn’t bashed to a bloody pulp, and it irritates me there, too. Sure, the romantic relationship may cause two of the three trio members to be far more focused on each other than the third member, but that doesn’t mean the already-existing relationship should be ignored… *sigh*
I put my arms around Jessie and held her to me again. "We sure would," I agreed.
"Our life together...it's like a journey! There may be a long, hard road ahead
for us, but if we walk it together, I know I'm going to enjoy it every step of
the way!"
Jessie's sapphire eyes sparkled as she returned my embrace. "Yeah! We'll be just
fine as long as we stay together. Things are bound to get better for us
someday."
"Someday very soon, we'll leave Team Rocket behind, have a family together, and
live normal lives, Jess," I promised. "We'll make it happen!"
Jessie nodded. "I know we will, James. Thank you for reminding me of that."
I smiled at her again as I leaned closer and pressed my lips to hers. And as
Jessie kissed me back, I knew that we were right -- our life's journey was just
beginning, and the best was yet to come!
The End
Guardian’s Song: …I can’t believe it. It actually ended on a good note. *throws up hands* Well, what am I supposed to do? It keeps bouncing back and forth between ideals I can actually get behind and raw stupidity! This isn’t like the Draco Trilogy, where my main concern was how fast the sporkers would be driven mad (and the Midnight Sun is currently in the same circumstances) - I have to keep acknowledging the good while also criticizing the bad! It’s just so… strange!
Jerry: I suppose it’s good we’re not in those sporkings…
Tom: *shrugs*
Special thanks to Lisa Short for the cute illustration of James comforting
Jessie!
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Back to the Library
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Some final notes for this sporking:
There were 13 instances of swearing.
There were 4 instances of my saying “credit where credit is due”.
It took, from start to finish, 24,012 words. No, I don’t have the number for the original word count, I’m afraid…
It is 55 pages long in Word, 56 if you count my intro, 60 if you count from the very beginning.
…Suddenly I’m not too enthusiastic about doing more… I don’t want ANOTHER Draco Trilogy. On the other hand, if I snip freely, it’s probably half as long… >_> At least this one is over! :D HOORAY!