----

"You stupid twerp! This is all your fault!" Jessie screeched at the skinny girl next to her. They were currently trapped in a deep and narrow valley, after being chased by some ursaring.

"My fault?! If you hadn't shot your huge laser gun at those ursaring, they wouldn't have woken up!" Misty yelled back.

Jessie flinched. The girl had a point. "Ugh, shut up! I've got to get out of here..." Jessie swiftly turned around and reached up to grab some sort of rock to pull herself up with. Her results were null. "...you've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Misty sat up, brushing some dirt off her shorts. "Can't pull yourself up?" She laughed at the older woman. The girl quickly reached up in an attempt to find leverage of her own, finding nothing. "Oh."

"Great, just great." Jessie kept searching.

"Ash?! Brock!!" Misty yelled upwards. "Somebody?!" She turned towards Jessie, who was sitting dejectedly on the ground. "Why don't you try calling for James?"

Jessie waved a hand in front of her face. "James is nowhere near here. If your twerpy boyfriend couldn't hear you, than neither could James."

Misty blushed and snarled. "He's not my boyfriend!"

Jessie raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Alright, not boyfriend. Is crush a better word?"

Misty's blush deepened. "No, it's not!" She joined Jessie on the ground. She knew no one would be coming to find them for at least a little while.

"Oh, come on, don't act like it's not obvious." Jessie chuckled at Misty's defeated expression before fading into silence, leaving the two girls staring awkwardly at anything but each other. After a few minutes, they accidentally locked eyes.

Misty stared into Jessie's eyes for a moment, trying not to get jealous at the fantastic shade of blue they were. Not only that, but Jessie was just all-around gorgeous. Misty knew she wasn't bad-looking, but she wasn't like the Team Rocket villainess. She looked away shyly, wondering what brought on those thoughts. She was usually so much more confident, but bringing up her feelings for Ash made her feel uncomfortable.

Jessie had stared down the girl, wondering what she was thinking about. She desperately wanted to get out of there and back to James and Meowth so they could go back to stealing the twerp's pikachu.

Misty hesitated for a second before opening her mouth. "...how doyou do it?"

Jessie raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"...when you love someone, how do you tell them?" Misty refused to look the older woman in the eyes.

Jessie blinked. "How would I know?" She admitted that she'd been in a few relationships before, but she'd never actually said "I love you" to any of those boyfriends.

"Don't you ever say it to James?"

Jessie blushed slightly and scowled. "Wha-what are you trying to imply?! James and I aren't in that kind of relationship!"

Misty raised her eyebrows in shock. That was news to her. A quick glance towards Jessie said otherwise, though, and Misty replied with a smirk. "Oh, come on, don't act like it's not obvious," she mocked.

Jessie blushed further. "Cute," she spit. After a few seconds of contemplation, Jessie opened one eye and looked over at the younger girl. "Well, who have you said 'I love you' to before?"

Misty paused. She hadn't expected Jessie to actually answer the question. "Uh...well, I've said that to my mom and dad. And my sisters, a long time ago."

Jessie smiled sadly. "Then just pretend he's one of them."

Misty ignored Jessie's expression after the mention of parents, and her face contorted into confusion and annoyance. "That's a different kind of love! Erk..." She tried not to get embarrassed at the admittance of her affection for the Pokemon Trainer. "Haven't you ever said 'I love you' to someone?"

Jessie leaned her head onto her hand, and glared in the opposite direction of the gym leader. After a few seconds of silence, she exhaled. "I probably said it to my mother a long time ago."

Misty held her confused expression. That was it? And she wasn't even positive about it? She decided not to delve into the subject, seeing as how upset it seemed to make the thief. Even if she was evil, she was still human. "Well you should know that family love and romantic love are totally different!"

Jessie turned back around to face the girl. Was this little girl going to lecture her on love? "What's your point?"

"If you love James, you should know whether it's just as a friend or as something...more," Misty explained. "From the looks of it, it's something more..."

"Shut up, you little brat." Jessie blushed again. She usually tried to avoid the subject of 'love', since it only brought back bad memories for her. "Just, don't concern yourself with other peoples' love lives. Especially not mine."

"So you admit you love him?"

The woman flinched and growled. "I'd admit that as soon as you admit you're in love with...Ash." Saying his name felt foreign, Jessie suddenly realized she'd probably only said his name once or twice even though she and James had been following them for months.

"..." Misty paused for a second before blushing completely. "I'm in love with Ash. Now it's your turn."

Jessie's eyes widened at that point, and she growled again. "Of course, you only work up the courage for that when my reputation is on the line." She turned around to see Misty's triumphant smile, and snarled. "You wanna hear me say it that bad?"

She nodded.

Jessie's cheeks reddened. "Fine. I'm...in love...with-"

"Jessie?!"

The two girls stopped their conversation and looked up, happily seeing a familiar face smiling above them. "Meowth!" Jessie squealed.

Meowth turned around. "I found her, Jim! The twerpette's down here, too!" he called back. Jessie and Misty heard multiple footsteps headed their way, and James', Ash's, and Brock's faces appeared above the ledge.

"Misty!" Ash and Brock exclaimed happily.

"Ash! Brock!" Misty held in a blush, hoping Jessie wouldn't say anything about their conversation. Of course, the woman probably knew better than that. If she said a word to Ash, than James would get an earful immediately after.

"Jessie!" James looked down.

"Took you long enough!" Jessie scowled up to the man above her. She glanced over at Misty, who was glaring daggers at her. And why was that? Just for acting like herself?

"Just wait a sec, Misty, we'll get you outta there!" Ash grabbed a pokeball, and threw it a little ways behind him. "I choose you, Bulbasaur!"

"Bulba!" the creature exclaimed, looking around for a moment before resting its' eyes on Ash's hand. He was pointing downwards into the valley below.

"Alright Bulbasaur, use vine whip to get Misty out of there!"

James squirmed next to the boy. Unlike the trainer, he didn't have any pokemon that could be helpful in this situation. And all their supplies were left back at the balloon, which was at least a ten minute walk from the valley.

Fortunately for the blue-haired man, as soon as the vines wrapped around Misty's torso, Jessie grabbed hold of one and refused to let go. The plant-type struggled to carry them both out, but succeeded after a few seconds. The two girls fell to the higher ground in a heap, Jessie bouncing back much more quickly and walking towards James.

"I'm glad you're alright, Jess!" James stepped forward in an attempt to hug his partner, but she shoved him off. "Huh?"

She glanced over at Misty, who was being helped up by Ash. The boy was apologizing for Bulbasaur's messy rescue, and Misty was slightly pink in the face as she brushed it off as nothing. She looked over at Jessie and their eyes locked again, making the older woman blush slightly. She turned back towards James and didn't look him in the eyes. "...thanks."

James raised an eyebrow. He was used to physical gratitude, not verbal. It was an interesting change. "Um, no problem...Meowth and I were looking all over for you...heh, we even formed a temporary alliance with the twerps since the girl was missing, too. What happened, anyway?"

Jessie scowled and started walking off. "I'll tell you later. C'mon, let's go."

Meowth gaped at her. "What? Aren't we gonna steal Pikachu?" James nodded in agreement.

Jessie stopped for a second, but didn't turn towards them. She sighed. "You guys can if you want. I'm done for the day." The woman continued in the direction she remembered their balloon being.

James and Meowth stared at each other before turning back towards the twerps. They glared at Misty. "What did you do to her?" they accused.

Misty couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Oh, nothing! She just realized something important, is all." She patted Ash and Brock and pointed in the opposite direction that Jessie went. "Let's find somewhere to camp out guys, I'm tired." The boys agreed and the three of them left the Team Rocket duo in the dust.

James scratched the back of his head while Meowth glanced back towards Jessie. Well, where Jessie had been. He flinched in realization. "Jim! I can't see Jess anymore! If she gets lost and we have to search for her again..."

James was already in full-throttle before the cat could even finish his sentence. He didn't even want to imagine Jessie's wrath at having to sit in a hole for practically half a day. And, still wondering what she and the twerpette had shared while incapacitated together, Meowth took off after him.

----

Huh. Yeah this is kind of my first Pokeshipping thing. Although it's mostly Rocketshipping cuz Twerpshipping's not really my thing.