"Have you ever been in a hot air balloon before?" James asked.

Jaycee shook her head, "No."

James turned to dial on the burner, and the flame burned bright. Soon the balloon was filled with air, and the balloon began to rise into the air.

"Well, I was petrified the first time me and Jessie went up." James admitted.

Meowth was surprising quiet, secretly trying to keep from thinking what act had recently occurred in the very basket he was standing in.

"It’s not too bad." Jaycee said.

James steered the balloon towards their destination, Vermilion City. James pointed to the harbor, where a ship was starting it’s maiden voyage, "That’s where we boarded the St. Anne."

"Didn’t the St. Anne sink?" Jaycee asked

James nodded, "Yeah, that’s right."

Jaycee frowned, "Yeah, I um, must have heard about it on the news."

James nodded, and pointed down "Look, Jaycee, they’re launching a ship."

"yeah, probably the ‘St. Anne II." Jaycee said.

James snickered, "Hope it’s more sturdy than the first one was."

He landed the balloon in an open field near the hospital, and everyone clambered out. James cradled the –still- dead to the world, Jessie in his arms. They went inside the hospital. It was cold inside, and smelt like, well, a hospital. *(Quite the describer, huh?)* James went up to the front desk, still holding Jessie, "Umm, Jessie’s fainted." He explained, "She’s sort of, not awake."

After this in-depth explanation from James, Jessie was soon in a hospital bed, having a blood test. James and Jaycee both cringed at the sight of the needle extracting Jessie’s blood.

"Cool, it’s red." Meowth said in fascination, "So she is human after all."

Jaycee, James and Meowth had to wait in the waiting room *(strange name for it.)* while Jessie’s blood was tested.

It was a tense situation, but James tried to hide his anxiety, "Maybe there’s a logical explanation as to why she was so…energetic." James said.

Meowth again had to hide a snicker.

Jessie sat up in the hospital bed. She felt tired. And dizzy. There was a drip in her arm, which was uncomfortable. She wondered why she was in the hospital anyway. she remembered feeling full of energy. Or had that been a dream? Maybe she had dreamt about James and her being in the basket of the Meowth balloon™…no, that couldn’t have been a dream. Jessie made a disgusted face. That guy was gonna be in big trouble for that. presently he entered with Jaycee and Meowth.

"Jessie? Are you feeling better?" James asked.

Jessie nodded, "Yeah."

Meowth jumped up onto the bed, and put his paw on Jessie’s arm, "Jessie, the doctor says they tested your blood, and you’re in fact, an alien."

Jessie frowned, "What?" she asked blankly.

James pushed Meowth off the bed, "Ignore him." he said, "The doctor said they found some sort of poison in your blood. It causes the victim to get a rush of adrenaline and well, get a bit high too."

"But how did that get in my blood?" Jessie asked, "It must’ve been your cooking, James!"

James cringed, "Well, yeah, it must’ve been. The pancake batter must’ve gotten the chemical in it somehow. They tested my blood, and it hurt too! And, ah, they found the same chemical in my blood, but not as much."

Jessie lay down, "I swear James, if I weren’t so worn out, I’d kill you right now."

James thanked his lucky Starmies, "Anyway, the doctor says you’ll be fine now."

Jessie sighed, "So can I leave or what?"

"After you’ve gotten some rest." James said, "Then we have to leave. The cops might find out we’re here."

Jessie simply nodded, and rolled over. James motioned for Jaycee and Meowth to follow him out of the room.

Ninetails sneezed, another shower of bluish powder falling from her. She cursed in Pokémon, and finished her assault on the weird tasting food. it was Pokémon food, but it had been formulated by Brock for electric type Pokémon like Pikachu. Ninetails left the rest of the food, and rummaged through the rest of the blue back pack with one of her small, delicate paws. There was nothing else of interest inside, so Ninetails left it alone. She heard the underground movement of about three Diglett beneath her feet, but knew better than to try to dig them out. The speed of light was too fast, even for her, to catch. She smelt humans approaching the campsite, so she loped away unseen into the thick trees. Ash, Misty and Brock saw nothing, although Pikachu didn’t think its Pokémon food tasted as good as usual as it ate it that night.

Everything was back to normal as night fell. Jaycee had gone with Meowth to get some water from the stream. And Jessie was pounding James into the ground.

"Jessie! Oof! It-ouch! Was-Ah! You who-OW!!" James tried to talk in between Jessie’s rather aggressive fit of rage, "You started it!" he yelped

"You weren’t exactly not reciprocating!" Jessie shouted.

James managed to roll to one side to dodge a flurry of slaps, "Jessie, you actively put me into the position…and what was I supposed to do?!"

Jessie snarled, "I was sick! Poisoned! Don’t be so insensitive!"

*SLAP*

"I didn’t know you were sick!" James yelped, "I OW! I thought you must’ve liked me!"

*SLAP*

"How could you even think of implying that?!" Jessie yelled, throwing forth more hits and slaps.

James cowered closer to the ground, "and don’t forget, I got poisoned too!"

"Not as much as me!" Jessie yelled, "And anyway, Meowth was poisoned too, but it had no effect on him! it only effects attractive people obviously!"

Jaycee arrived at the camp site, and saw what was going on. She was shocked, "What’s she…" Jaycee began.

"Don’t worry." Meowth said, "She always does this. She’s only hitting his head, she won’t damage anything."

"Jessie, you were –ouch! Oof!- damn well chasing me –Agghhhh!- and I had to run to get away-oof!"

at this point, Jaycee stood between the two, and shielded James from his angry partner.

"Out of the way little girl!" Jessie yelled.

Jaycee stood firm, "You were the one who was chasing him! and you were the one who pushed him into the Meowth Balloon™ basket!"

Jessie snarled again, and stormed off. Meowth curled up to have a cat nap.

James stood up, and dusted himself off, "She does stuff like this a lot." He explained, "But sometimes she’s nice." At the back of his mind he heard himself thinking how it was worth it to have made out with her.

Jaycee felt uncomfortable, "Well, she shouldn’t beat you up…"

James shrugged, "She’s just; Jessie." He looked at the ground, "Um, thanks, for, you know."

"No problem." Jaycee said.

James started to say something else, but instead took the canteen from Jaycee, and set about making dinner.

Jessie, James, Jaycee and Meowth all sat around the fire eating small bowls of noodles. James cleared his throat, and Jessie and Jaycee both looked up, "Jessie, I’m sorry." James said, "It was my fault you got sick, so it was my fault for what happened."

Jessie nodded, "You got it right James."

James decided that must have meant that she forgave him. Jaycee wondered why he had lied like that. He couldn’t have helped that the poison got into the pancake batter. She thought better of saying anything, remembering the old expression, "Let a sleeping Growlithe lie."

Or something like that.