Chapter One

"Ugh, why did we follow the Twerp into another haunted mansion?" Jessie shoved spiderwebs out of her face as she crawled along the dusty floor, careful not to let the crackle of electricity from the room below drift too far away.

A fat, black spider scuttled past her towards James and she heard him whimper. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if we weren't sneaking around the attic," he said.

"Yeah, you were 'da one who wanted to go 'dis way. James an' I -"

"Shh!" Jessie cut him off, standing up and listening intently. "Did you just hear something?"

The others joined her. "Naw. It's prob'ly just..." The cat pokèmon stopped mid sentence as there was a distinct creak and crack from the floor. Suddenly, it gave way and the three tumbled to the ground.

They screamed, landing on a heap right in front of the three wide eyed kids. They quickly straightened themselves off and shakily began their speech. The twerps listened wide eyed and intently. For once they must appreciate our genius, Jessie thought proudly. She smirked, before realizing that they had all gone pale and were looking at something over her head. She and her teammates turned slowly around and came face to face with a very large and angry looking gengar. They screamed again and dashed away, James and Meowth in one direction and her in the other.

When she was safely in a brightly lit room, she slammed the door behind her. Of course, the gust of air put out the chandelier and she blinked in the darkness, leaving her eyes half open and expression flat.

She spotted a dim, eerie glow behind a box in the corner and rushed to it, eager for any sort of comfort, only to find another ghost; the source of the hazy light was a tiny Litwick, terrified out of its mind at the huge human towering over it. She scowled. "Oh, great, another ghost pokèmon. And such a weakling, too; I can't even catch it for the boss."

It whimpered and closed its eyes before lunging and trying to run around her. She noticed one of its feet dragging and whispered an "Oh."

It tripped and fell and cried out. She knelt down, reaching her hand out tentatively to stroke it - it was such a young thing - but it shied away almost angrily and she huffed. The one time I try to do something nice. Standing up, she pursed her lips and said, "Fine. I'll do this the hard way. Pokèball, go!"

The litwick became a little red wisp that settled securely in the pokèball, which wiggled a few times before sitting still. She picked it up, tossed it, and snapped it to her belt, deciding that it was time to go search for the others and the exit.

(O)

After an hour of fumbling through the dark and going a net distance of about three rooms, Jessie gave up on making it out herself. She was reluctant to bring out litwick to guide her - what if it refused to help or tried to run off? Biting the bullet, and her lip, she grabbed the pokeball. "Litwick, I choose you."

The little candle blinked a few times and looked around, murmuring fearfully. "It's okay..." Jessie's voice, though weak and uncertain, startled it and it jumped. This is exactly why I don't try to comfort people. Or pokèmon. "I know you're hurt, but I'm lost and I need to get out." The litwick didn't move, staring at her with wide eyes. "Look, I'll take you to a pokèmon center when we escape this place." It began to back away and she knelt down, offering her hand. She took a breath and tried to say the word, finally forcing it out in a rush as she looked away. "Please."

There was a moment of silence but then she felt something warm climb into her hand. "Lit...litwick." It said. She blinked at it in surprise, then unsteadily stood up.

Not only did Litwick's flame allow her to see where she was going, but the little pokèmon also knew his way around pretty well. Each time they came to a door it would nudge Jessie's hand to tell her which path to take. Within only a few minutes she was outside the back of the house, blinking in even the dim twilight.

She smiled a little. She was exhausted, but that was to be expected from wandering through the dark like that. "Litwick, return." It obediently slid back into its pokèball and Jessie walked around the manor until she ran into the feuding man and meowth at the front.

"Look, 'dere she is! I told ya 'dat she'd be fine on her own."

James, whose back was towards her, turned to look. Tears streamed down his face. "Oh, thank goodness you're alright!" He threw himself into a hug and Jessie stood there awkwardly, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"What, have you two been arguing about whether I'd make it or not?" It was difficult to decide whether to chuckle, hug him back and enjoy the moment, or explode. She decided on the latter; it wasn't the best course of action but it was the easiest. "I've been wandering around for over an hour trying to get out of that dump! You could've tried to help somehow."

"See! I knew we needed to help her," James sobbed. His concern had been touching at first but now it was bordering on obnoxious, and the butterflies in her stomach were making her nauseous.

Unsure what to do, she roughly shoved him off her shoulders. "You're not off the hook either," she snarled. "If you'd really wanted to help you should've done something more than just cat fight!" She bashed him over the head and his eyes spun.

Meowth tried to dash away while she was preoccupied. "Get back here, you little rat!"

The pokèmon stopped. "Rat?! I'll have youse know 'dat I'm way better 'dan a t'ousand a 'dose low lives!" His pause was enough to allow his furious partner to catch up and whack him with the giant mallet she'd pulled from nowhere. The cat's eyes swirled in rhythm with his comrade's.

Jessie began to stomp away as the two laid on the ground. When she realized they weren't following, she groaned and angrily grabbed a leg of each and dragged them through the forest behind her.

(O)

Author's Note:So, I'm finally back! I've been working super hard on this one, and I can promise that this time I'll finish it in under a year, especially since it's all already written! :D

I should probably mention a headcanon of mine that pokeballs can be used for storing things that aren't pokemon. This stems from the episode where, instead of catching a mankey, Ash manages to catch a "jelly doughnut" (Ah, localization.)

This started out as a small, symbolic fic and expanded into something far more than that. XD I'm very proud of it, so I hope you'll all like it. :)

See you soon!