AN: Here is a new story that I wrote while contemplating another fic that I am working on.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Warning: Implied sexual assault.

Searching For Prince Charming

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Jessie. She was a very tough young woman, surviving more than most people experience in their entire lives. She had to be tough. She was a criminal by trade, stealing items and pokemon for a cold, ruthless man. If she weren't tough-as-nails, she would have been fired (or worse) by her ruthless boss. Sometimes she felt as though she had been preparing for this job her entire life. Her childhood was less than glamorous. She grew up in foster homes, shuffled from one to the next when people got bored of her. She couldn't remember her mother or father. In fact, she couldn't remember anything from before the age of four. Everything was foggy and muffled. She didn't dwell on the past, though. She was the type that focused on surviving the present.

At this moment, her present consisted of her sitting on a worn old sleeping bag, staring at the dying embers of a campfire. She was supposed to be sleeping, but try as she might, she could not close her eyes and slip off to dreamland. She sighed and her sapphire eyes drifted over the meagre campsite that her and her partners had quickly thrown together. Their balloon was stashed in a messy pile, waiting to be repaired after it's latest run-in with the twerp's pokemon. A frying pan was carelessly discarded near the fire, along with the shells of the pidgey eggs that they had managed to steal for supper. Her partners, a cat-pokemon called Meowth, and a young man named James, were fast asleep, far away in dreamland, untroubled by their lack of success.

Jessie shut her eyes and scowled as she pinpointed the cause for her insomnia. Once again, their long list of failures tormented her. They ate away at her brain as she agonized over what her boss would say when he discovered that they had failed again. Harsh words filled her mind…stupid…idiots…failures…worthless…

And then the words weren't the problem anymore. As clearly as she could hear the boss saying those cruel words to her and her partners, she could also vividly feel his hands on her body, his breath on her neck, his…

She shuddered and suppressed an anguished cry. She had to get away…will herself to focus on something, anything else. She had to escape.

She got to her feet and ran towards the bright lights of the city. It wasn't long before she was immersed in the crowded nightlife, and she was thankful for the many distractions, as she always was on nights like this. You see, every so often, Jessie needed the distraction, the escape from her miserable existence. On these nights, she would head for the nearest city or town, looking for something to keep those horrifying memories at bay. It used to be that she would go to the nearest bar or nightclub and drink and dance until she forgot her life, but that took its toll on her and drew suspicion from James and Meowth. She couldn't let them know about these nights. They couldn't see her weakness. She remembered mornings where she would return to camp hung over and out of touch. They would ask questions. That was why she no longer sought out clubs or bars. Instead, she would wander the city like a restless cat looking for trouble. Recently, she had taken to frequenting movie theatres. It was easy to sneak in. All she had to do was drop a lit match into a garbage can and slip inside during the commotion. Easy. Some nights, when she had a little money to spend, she would stop at a liquor store and buy something to take her mind off things.

That was what she did tonight. She stopped into a liquor store and bought a mickey of vodka. She hid it in a paper bag as she snuck into the theatre. She sat in the back row and drank, her eyes taking in the movie while the alcohol numbed her brain.

It was a movie about a princess who had been forced from her kingdom by her vengeful uncle. She lived as a peasant would, and eventually fell in love with a peasant boy.

Jessie rolled her eyes as she watched the pair frolic as if they didn't have a care in the world. How unrealistic, she thought, frowning as she took another drink. There was a niggling feeling in the back of her brain, like déjà vu. She couldn't seem to shake it, so she took another drink and focused a bit more on the movie.

The princess discovered that her peasant boy wasn't a peasant at all. He was actually a prince, driven out of his kingdom by the princess's evil uncle's plot to marry him to the princess's nasty cousin. Upon hearing the woeful tale of her lover, the princess reveals her secret and the two conspire to take back their kingdom. They began recruiting those who hate the new regime to fight for their cause. Among the recruits is an old man with sword skills and a jaded attitude.

Jessie frowned. Her brain was telling her to make a connection, but she couldn't figure out how to force together the pieces of a puzzle that had long eluded her. She took another drink.

The prince and princess led their army into battle with the evil king's forces. They fought well together and none could overtake them in battle. The prince and princess were closing in on the throne room, getting ever closer to the king. They stumble into a room where they see a painted portrait of the royal family. The princess points out her father, the rightful king who had disappeared in battle years before. She pauses, taking a closer look at the portrait as if she recognized something. Just then, the evil king and his guards charge into the room, forcing the lovers to battle the attackers. The princess has a clear shot at her uncle the usurper. She raises her sword and the evil king meets her, blow for blow, until he disarms her. He laughs and raises his sword, intent to kill. There is a scream and as he brings the blade down, the old man pushes her out of the way and takes the brunt of the sword. The evil king and the princess stare at the old man in shock. He takes the moment to fight the evil king and in the last moment, the old man kills the king and falls to the ground. He is injured badly.

"Why did you do that?" the princess questions as she holds him.

"I said I would protect you," the old man says, moaning in pain as he looks up at the painted image of the young princess in the portrait.

"Father?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Yes, child," the old man moans, "You are so beautiful."

"Milady!" the prince cries, rushing to her side as she cradles her father's head in her lap.

"Your prince," the old king says, smiling at the young prince, "Better than I could ever have hoped for."

"He is the best," the princess confirmed, nodding.

"I knew you would find him," the old man said, "Always I knew, that you deserved a prince who could treat you the way a princess could be treated. I knew you would find just that, and you did."

Jessie's eyes widened as she stared up at the screen. Those words…they awakened something in her mind and forced a memory that had long been buried to the surface.

"I love you more than anything else in the world, Princess," a soft male voice whispered, "Never ever forget that."

"I won't ever forget!" a child's voice chirped, "Never, not even when I'm big and live in a castle with Prince Charming and living happily ever after!" the child proclaimed. The man chuckled, but it was a sad sound.

"Hold on to that, Jessie," he said, "Keep that dream alive. Never stop searching for your prince. You deserve everything in the world, and I wish that I could make you happy-"

"You do make me happy!" the little girl protested.

"And you make me very happy," the man told her, "but there's going to be a time when I won't be here to make you happy. That's why you need to find your prince, the one that will take care of you and make you happy when I can't be there. Don't stop searching for him. You deserve the very best, so don't stop searching until you find him. You deserve your own happily ever after."

Jessie sat there, in the back of the movie theatre, replaying the voices in her mind. The male voice was not old and wheezy like that of the old king in the movie. It was young, yet there was so much sorrow in his voice. And the child's voice was youthful, innocent, the way a child's voice should sound. Jessie frowned, focusing with all her might on the memory of the voices, trying to remember more, if they were from some old movie or if they were real. She shut her eyes.

She could feel something warm against her cheek, yet it was rough. A beard maybe, or stubble. She could feel strong arms around her, holding her tight as if they were afraid to let go.

She could smell something, a mixture of sweat, expensive cologne, and a familiar scent that she loved, yet couldn't pinpoint.

She heard shaking breaths, the kind someone would take if they were crying. She heard a cold, familiar chuckle. She shuddered.

Jessie opened her eyes, and she was shocked to find tears there. She blinked them back and got to her feet, suddenly desperate to leave the theatre where she had previously sought solace. She stumbled outside, a little tipsy from the half-drunk bottle of vodka that she left on the floor of the theatre. She made her way back to the forest that she and her friends camped in and collapsed near a river. She buried her face in her hands, the strange words of the mystery voice still replaying in her mind.

"You need to find your prince, the one that will take care of you and make you happy when I can't be there. Don't stop searching for him. You deserve the very best, so don't stop searching until you find him. You deserve your own happily ever after."

She had lived her entire life by those words, even if it had taken until now to remember them. She was always searching for something that could make her feel special, be it a sought after pokemon, a rare jewel, or the ever-elusive prince charming. She always felt like Cinderella or Snow White, mistreated by everybody, longing for that one special person to take her away from her miserable existence. She spent her life surviving, but what she really wanted was someone to care for her, hold her, make her laugh, brush away her tears, love her…

Jessie began to cry. She hadn't found the prince that the mystery voice instructed her to find. She hadn't found her happily ever after. She was a lowly criminal, who failed at just about every mission her boss assigned to her. She had no lover, no prince. She was nowhere near living in a palace far away. She didn't have a home or food or money. She had stolen pidgey eggshells and a campsite that would get torn down in the morning.

She almost didn't feel a pair of arms wrap around her and hold her as sobs wracked her thin frame. She inhaled a familiar scent of jelly-filled doughnuts and cotton fabric. She felt a thin finger brush away the tears from her cheeks. A familiar jolt of electricity shot through her the moment the finger touched her skin. She would know that touch anywhere.

"J-James," she whimpered.

"Shh," he sighed, "It's alright, Jess. I'm here," he told her. She snuggled deeper into her best friend's embrace, feeling safe for the first time all night.

"I can't…it…there's no prince," she mumbled. She felt him shift so he could look down into her face. She saw the most vivid green eyes.

"Prince?" he asked, frowning.

"I'm not a princess and there's no prince," she murmured, hiccupping at the end. He moved in and kissed her forehead.

"You are most definitely a princess," he told her, stroking her long red hair, "A strong, beautiful princess and there will always be a prince ready and waiting for you."

"Who?" she asked. He smiled shyly and took a deep breath.

"Me," he answered. She smiled up at her friend.

"You're not a prince, you're James," she said, her voice slurring a little. He returned her smile a little sadly.

"Yeah," he agreed, "Let's get you back to camp, Jess," he said, standing and hauling her to her feet. He caught her when she stumbled.

"Thanks," she giggled. He shook his head and chuckled.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" he asked, bending to pick her up and carry her back.

"Nope," she murmured against his chest. She could feel him chuckle again as she drifted off.

James gently placed the sleeping woman on her sleeping back and tucked her safely inside it. She made a couple of small noises in protest, but she fell asleep rather quickly. He stared down at her beautiful form, the moonlight dancing on her pale skin as she slept, and sighed sadly. She had been drinking again, he knew. He had seen her rush away from camp, disturbed and troubled. He laid awake, waiting for her to return.

These nights were the worst for him. He knew there was something that she ran from, that she tried to escape, but he didn't know what it was. She would never tell him. She was far too proud to admit weakness to anybody. All he could do was lay away and wait for her to come back. Sometimes, she would come back and go to sleep like nothing was wrong. Other nights, she would return drunk, stumbling back into camp. On those nights, he would get up and help her back to bed. She never remembered those nights, but he remembered every one of them. It hurt him to see her broken down like that. He thought about asking her about whatever it was that hurt her so, but he just couldn't get the courage up to ask.

No wonder she didn't consider him good enough to be a prince. Princes were supposed to be courageous, strong, and brave. He was none of those things. He couldn't ask her what she was so afraid of or how he could make it better. He couldn't tell her that he could chase away all of her demons or that he wanted to be the one to treat her like a goddess. He couldn't even tell her that he loved her. He was not the prince she deserved, he decided as he stared down at her as she dreamt. He was her dopey best friend, the one who would take care of her until her true prince came along. He sighed in misery. Being the dopey best friend was not enough for him. He wanted to be the one she dreamt about, the one she was searching for.

Little did he know, Jessie was dreaming about him. In her dream, she was a princess, loved by a faceless man and woman. Then it changed. The man and woman disappeared and she was left alone, stripped of her crown, trying to find a way to survive in a harsh, cold world. Things looked bleak for the broken Princess Jessie. Then she saw two bright green eyes, the eyes of her saviour. Prince James helped her to her feet and together, they took on the world. He wiped her tears away. He held her. He made her laugh. He loved her…

Jessie awoke the next morning and just lay back, staring at the blue-haired, green-eyed man who was still sleeping peacefully. She smiled, though she didn't quite know why. She thought it had something to do with princes and princesses, but that seemed silly to her. She continued to lie there until he opened his eyes.

Sapphire eyes met emerald. He smiled and so did she, and for a moment, she felt as though she had found everything she had been searching for.

Then, as per usual, a cranky cat yowled, "Are youse two up yet? Does Meowth have to do everythin'? You lazy, no-good…"

The rest of Meowth's usual morning tirade was lost on Jessie as she sat up, breaking the inexplicable connection her and James shared, and prepared for another day surviving and longing for a happily ever after.

The End

AN: So this is a bit of an angsty rocketshippy piece. I thought the concept was appropriate as Jessie seems a bit preoccupied with fairy tales and sees herself as a princess searching for some kind of validation. Also, I get the feeling that she has had some hardships in her life and that as tough as she is, she just wants someone who can care for her. James, on the other hand, really does care for her, yet he deems himself unworthy in her eyes until he can change. And Meowth...well, let's face it. He's just there to interupt a perfectly nice moment XD.

So as I said before, I wrote this after thinking about a chapter for an upcoming fic, which I hope to publish on here as soon as I tweak it to the way I want it. Until then, I would love to hear your thoughts on this fic! For now, I have to go create a test, which will hopefully be more fun than writing one ;)