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"She hasn’t spoken a word since we brought her home." Jaycee’s mother said softly to Krystal, "she won’t eat, she just stays in her room. And she draws pictures all day. She won’t show them to me. I hear her crying at night, but she won’t say anything to me."

"Can I talk to her?" Krystal asked.

Jaycee mom nodded, "she might be able to talk to you."

Krystal knocked on Jaycee’s door. No answer. She shrugged, and opened the door. She closed it behind her. Jaycee lay on her bed, wearing her home made Team Rocket costume, staring at the ceiling blankly.

"Jaycee?" Krystal asked.

Jaycee looked at her, her face expressionless.

Krystal glanced around the room. She spotted a stack of paper with drawings on them lay on the floor next to Jaycee’s bed, "Um, your mom said you’d been drawing pictures lately." Krystal said.

Jaycee didn’t answer her.

Krystal picked up one of the drawings. It was James. all of the pictures were. James crying, laughing, sleeping, every expression you could think of.

Jaycee sat up, "I miss him, Krys."

Krystal sat down on the bed, "Well of course you do."

"I finally had someone," Jaycee said, "He understood me, he was just like me. I can’t cope without him here."

"Look at it this way," Krystal said, "You actually got to meet him. isn’t that something? If you had a choice, would you rather have never met him?"

"At least when I hadn’t met him, I could tell myself that he wouldn’t be the guy I thought he was if I did." Jaycee’s face grew sad, "Now I’ve met him, and he was everything I hoped he’d be, and now I have to live knowing that."

"I…"began Krystal.

"Just leave me alone." Jaycee said, "No one understands this."

Krystal left. She knew she wouldn’t help Jaycee by just standing in her room. She didn’t know what else to do, though.

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James lay on the bed in his room. It was so empty now. they were still at the hotel, but he didn’t care where they went. A tear rolled down his cheek, and he closed his eyes. Jessie didn’t understand what he was going through, just like he didn’t understand her problem. She stayed in her room most of the time, him in his. Now and then they would try to comfort each other, but their own problems were bad enough. Meowth dutifully did rounds from one room to the next, talking quietly to Jessie, then to James, but only Jessie seemed to respond. She was getting steadily better, while James seemed to get worse. Meowth even went to Ash, Misty and Brock for help, but none of them was any. James went for a walk down to the beach, and realized that he and Jaycee had never even gone to the beach together. That morning before he met her, he had longed for someone to share the sight of the beach at sunrise with. Now he would never get to share it with her.

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Jaycee felt hungry. Her mom had forced her to drink regularly, but it was only enough to keep her alive. Jaycee refused to eat anything. A psychiatrist didn’t help, as Jaycee wouldn’t talk to her. her parents decided that before they did anything drastic, they would try letting time heal her, though they hardly knew what it was healing. It had been two weeks now. Jaycee remembered the last time she and James had been together; at that picnic. And earlier that day, how they had been in the elevator. She almost smiled at that memory. But her happiest memory of him, which made her the saddest, was the time he had given her a rose, and hugged her. that had been the moment she had realized he truly was perfect. she wondered if she would ever feel the way she had felt when his arms were around her. she didn’t know if she ever could. Maybe she would never feel happy again. Without James, she was only half. He wasn’t just a part of her, she realized now, but he was half of her. the thing that made all of this worse, was that she’d always known, in her heart, that she would lose him. she didn’t even know how she had gotten to him, so she didn’t know how to get back. And she knew it hadn’t been a dream, because Krystal remembered it too.

"I’ll do anything." Jaycee said, "Just let me see him again."

Ninetails felt restless inside the Pokeball which had once calmed her. she struggled, and suddenly the Pokeball popped open, and all at once she was sitting outside of it. this was always a strange feeling, to at one time be inside something, and then suddenly be outside, and realize how small it was. She was in Jessie’s room at the hotel. Jessie wasn’t there, so she was probably eating in the dining room. Ninetails stretched, and preened her long flowing tails briefly, before wandering out of the room. Jessie was sitting at the table, picking at a sandwich. Ninetails crept passed her, and padded to James’s room, which was next to the kitchen. His door was slightly agar, so she pawed it open, and went inside silently. James lay on his bed, facing the window that looked out of his room to the grounds. Ninetails knew he was missing Jaycee, but had no way to tell him her secret. She knew exactly how Jaycee had gotten into this world, and her friend Krystal too. It was in the prophecy. She, of course was the creature which could open the portal to another world. When she howled, the portal had been opened, and Jaycee had gotten through. And when she howled that second time, and caused the wild Pokémon to follow her, and to turn trainer’s Pokémon against them, the portal had been opened once more, and Krystal had gotten through. But somehow they had gone back through the portal again, and returned to their own world. She knew she had to work out how to harness her power, so that she could maybe send Jessie and James through to the other world. They would be safe there, she knew. Safe from Giovanni, who would surely find out about the money soon. And of course, James would be so happy if he could be with that girl Jaycee again. Ninetails returned to Jessie’s room, and went back into her Pokeball. She needed to think, but she knew she could work all this out.

James and Jaycee both felt a sudden surge of hope go through them. Jaycee got up from her bed, and went out to the kitchen, where her mom and dad were, "do I have to go back to school tomorrow?" she asked, while raiding the fridge.

They both looked relieved.

In another dimension, James also left his room, and went into Jessie’s, "Jessie, want to go for a walk?" he asked.

Jessie nodded, "Sure."

Jaycee and James both knew they would be together again someday. And simultaneously, although they were an entire world apart, they both whispered, "Someday it’ll be perfect again."

*(yes, there is more to come. Be brave.)*

This story is based on events that really happened. No, I did not travel to Pokémon Island, neither did Krystal, who is a real person, as real as me, and my best friend. But a lot of what was said really happened to me. The reason Jaycee decided she had to find James, that was true. Yes, I do carry a figurine of James around. Yes, I draw pictures of him. yes, my walls are covered in them. yes, I wear a gold locket with James’s picture in it, which I truly cut out of a magazine, from an article about Pokémon: the first Movie. David is a real person. Yes, I gave him a rose and hugged him. I hope one day he will be my James, but until then I have this story. I know I’m not alone in my quest to find the real James. others must suffer the same plight I incur every day. And some day maybe I will travel into that other world, and I can tell James what I long to let him know. He’s perfect.

Good afternoon good evening and goodnight.