It never occurred to me that one little incident could change the course of a person's life, especially when that person just happened to be James. I never really meant to hurt him, but my pride, my selfish pride, got in the way. I can remember that day well, almost too well.

  It all started about two weeks ago, just a couple of days before the start of the Pokemon League competition atop the Indigo Plateau. James, Meowth, and I were desperate to achieve our dream of competing in the competition, so desperate that we sunk so low as to stealing some gym badges from a kid named Otoshi and his Marowak by using our usual pit-falls to trap him. After that was done, we headed to the woods to look at our prize.

  "That was almost too easy," said James. "I can't believe how stupid that kid was!"

  "You're right about that, Jimmy," said Meowth. "I never thought that stealin' badges was that simple! At least it beats stealin' 'em from the gyms!"

  In the meantime, I was busy hiding the badges in a safe place so that we could find them later. But, curiously, I took another look at them and decided to take them for myself. With the competition a couple of days away, I wanted to have my own badges so that I could enter.  Quickly, I put the badges in a box and wrapped it in a green handkerchief. Then, I climbed out of the basket of the balloon. When James saw me, he was curious.

  "What are you doing, Jess?"
  "I'm going to do a little shopping in town," I said. "Could you be a lamb and wait here until I get back?"
  "Sure," said James. "Anything for you, Jessie!"

  I quickly gave him a kiss on the cheek and went on my way. As much as he enjoyed it, James was still curious as to why I would be in such a hurry to go shopping.

  "You okay, James?" said Meowth. "You look like you've got somethin' on your mind!"

  "It's nothing, really," said James, dismissing whatever it was that he was curious about. "Meowth, why don't we take a peek at those beautiful badges we stole?"

  "You've read my mind," said Meowth. "I was just gonna suggest that exact same thing!"

  Meowth climbed into the balloon to look for the badges, but he was shocked to discover that the badges weren't there at all.

  "You're not gonna believe this, James," he said. "But, the badges are gone!"
  "You're right," said James. "I don't believe it! But, how could they be gone when we stole them a few minutes ago?"
  "That's what I don't understand," said Meowth. "Especially since Jessie and I hid them!"
  Not seeing me anywhere, he added, "Hey, where is Jessie anyhow?"
 
  "She told me that she had a little shopping to do in town," said James. "Then, she ran off carrying a big square package wrapped in a green handkerchief!"

  "So, that's what happened to 'em," said Meowth. "Your girlfriend is a good-for-nothin' thief, James! She stole 'em! Jessie stole our stolen badges! I knew she was too good to be true!"

  "Now, take it easy, Meowth," said James. "Jessie would never think of abandoning us like this! We've been together too long to ever be separated!"

  "Together too long, huh?" said Meowth. "Well, how do you explain the fact that she's been gone for almost two hours?"

  "You're right," said James. "She has been gone awfully long, and I'm starting to get suspicious!"

  Meanwhile, miles ahead of them, I was walking happily down Victory Road with the badges. My shopping excuse had worked, and James fell for it! I couldn't believe that I actually pulled it off.

  "I finally got my own set of badges," I said. "Now, I'll be able to enter the Pokemon League competition and show them all how good a trainer I am! No more sharing the spotlight with those stooges! From now on, I'm going solo!"

  After about an hour or so, I started to get uneasy. It wouldn't be long until James and Meowth discovered that I had tricked them and decided to come after me. I then disguised myself as a harem girl, which is rather fitting since I was the trainer of a giant cobra.

  "This is too good," I said. "Not even James and Meowth will be able to recognize me in this outfit!"

  Upon mentioning their names, a feeling of guilt came over me. What was I doing? I was being selfish, and for what? For a chance to get into the Pokemon League. I knew for sure that James would want a set of badges too, but where was I going to get another set of badges on such short notice? That's when I saw a stupid-looking trainer just a few miles ahead of me. Show time, I thought.

  "Hello, fellow trainer," I said. "What a lovely set of badges you  have! Take a look at mine!"
  "Wow," said the boy. "You certainly have a whole lot of badges! You must've worked hard to get them!"
  I chuckled. "Not as hard as you might think!"

  The kid then showed me the set of badges he had. Just the badges I needed for James. Speaking of James, he was secretly watching from above in the Meowth balloon. Meowth was looking through the binoculars.

  "James," he said. "Are you sure that's Jessie down there?"
 
  "I'm positive," said James. "Jessie and I have worn lots of disguises, and we share a certain sense of style! Even under all those veils, I can sense that fashion flair anywhere!"

  "As long as you're positive," said Meowth. "Let's get her!"

  While I was still unaware of their presence, I tried the famous "what's-that-behind-you?" technique, which worked like a charm, might I add. The stupid kid fell for it. Just when I was about to take his badges, a bomb with a red "R" on it appeared before me. That could only one thing: James and Meowth found me! Before I could back away, it exploded and a cloud of white smoke formed around me.
 
  "What's going on here?" I said. "Who's there?"
  I then heard James's voice. "Prepare for trouble!"
  "Huh?" I said. "Prepare for trouble?"
  "Yes," said James. "And make it double!"
 
  I couldn't believe this, James had actually opened the motto using my line. Well, as long as we had the motto going, I decided to go ahead and continue it, for his sake and mine.

  "To protect the world from devastation!"
 
  "To unite all peoples within our nation!" James got a couple of inches closer to me when he said this. I noticed it, but I decided not to ask  him why, especially since the motto was just coming to the best part.

  "To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
  "To extend our reach to the stars above!"
  "Jessie!"
  "James!"
  "Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light!" I tore off my disguise, revealing my Rocket gear.
  "Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" James struck his trademark pose beside me, rose in hand.
  "Meowth, that's right!"

  The kid got scared and ran off, along with the badges I was going to  steal. This wasn't fair, not for me anyway.

  "I was so close to grabbing all that kid's badges," I said. "But, you two had to come and ruin everything! Why is it that whenever I try to do something, you have to blow it for me?"

  "We were just takin' back what was rightfully ours," said Meowth. "I see that your criminal nature has gotten the best of you, Jessie! You stole from us, which you shouldn't have done in the first place! You can steal from some kid, but not from us, your own teammates!"

  James pointed an accusing finger at me. "You have disgraced the disgraceful Team Rocket!"

  His words hit me like a slap across my face. I had come to this close to hurting my James, and he was angry at me for it. Normally, he had never once raised his voice to me, but this time, he made it an exception, especially since what I did was uncalled for. Tears welled up in my eyes and I fell to my knees. James looked at me sternly while Meowth came over to me and put his paw on my shoulder.
 
  "Hey, chin up," he said. "We can steal more badges and be rottener as a team than we can as individuals!"
  "You're right," I said, calming myself down. "As long as I get to be the rottenest!"

  Just then, the twerps showed up, followed by Otoshi. Apparently, they were after the badges. But, I was determined to show James and Meowth that what I did was a mistake. So, I did the only thing I knew how -- challenged the kid to a Pokemon battle. Since he didn't have his Marowak, he sent out his Doduo, and I sent out Arbok.

  Arbok proved to be better than the Doduo, especially since she knew more attacks. She was able to defeat it with no trouble at all. Just when I was about to capture it, Marowak showed up. When it appeared hopeless for Arbok to defeat it herself, James sent out Weezing. Ash, the head of the Twerp Trio, sent out Pikachu, who used his Thunder Shock.

  The battle was a total bust and we "blasted off", as we did so many times. I felt guilty for deserting James the way I did, and I wanted to apologize to him.

  "James," I said. "I'm sorry if I..."
 
  "Spare me your apology," said James, still a bit angry at me. "You've proven to me that I can't trust you! Don't let this 'stooge' get in your way!"

  "But, James," I said. "You have to believe me! I didn't mean to do what I did!"
  "Oh, sure," said James. "And I'll bet you didn't mean to kiss me so quickly either!"

  I tried to explain my actions, but the words burned in my throat.  Since he was still mad at me for deserting him, James turned and walked away from me, with Meowth following at his heels. It was obvious that he wasn't ready to forgive me yet, especially since what I did wasn't worthy of apology. I followed behind them, my head hung in shame.

  Later that night, I wasn't even hungry, so I sat on my sleeping bag and got out my pink journal. It was sort of like the blue one that James kept, only it was pink and more fancy. I opened to a fresh page and began writing a new entry. The wording was as follows:

  "Dear Diary,

  Today, I did something I shouldn't have done, I hurt my beloved James. I never meant for something like this to happen, but my pride got  in the way, and all because of those badges. I love him so much, and yet, I went and destroyed him. How can I ever expect him to forgive me if all I did was make him feel miserable? What's a girl to do? How could I have hurt the one man that I feel the closest to? What I did was uncalled for and I realize that I deserved to be treated like this. Will he ever understand that what I feel for him is real and that I would never do anything to hurt him, like his old girlfriend, Tyra? I guess
  I'll never know.
  Yours Truly,
  Jessica Rachel Harris".

  I stared at what I just wrote and they seemed to echo in my mind. How could I possibly expect to be forgiven when I did something that was totally unforgivable? Putting my journal away, I took off my jacket, gloves, and boots and crawled into my sleeping bag. All night, I tried to sleep, but I was afraid that I would have a nightmare about today and what I did. Finally, I got out of my sleeping bag and decided to go for a walk. I walked deep into the forest until I came to a lake. Once I was there, I sat on a large rock and stared at my reflection in the water. Tears came to my eyes again and instead of holding them back, I let them fall and they hit the water, causing ripples around my reflection.

  About two minutes later, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Startled, I  turned around and saw James.
  "What are you doing here?"
  "Looking for you," said James. "I saw that you weren't in your sleeping bag and I though that maybe I'd..."

  "Come and yell at me some more?" I said, not letting him finish what he was about to say. "And to tell me that I'm nothing but a disgrace to the team?"

  "No," said James. "That's not what I was going to say at all!"
 "It isn't?" I said. "Then, why did you come looking for if you didn't come here to yell at me?"

  "I had some time to think about what I said to you earlier," said James. "And I realize that I shouldn't have yelled at you like that! I was just upset, that's all!"

  "Yeah," I said, my sobs increasing by the minute. "You were probably upset that I stole the badges!"

  James sat down next to me and pulled me into a hug. "I wasn't upset about the badges! In fact, I didn't even care about the badges!"

  "Why were you upset if you didn't care abou the badges?"

  "I was upset because I thought you didn't love me anymore," said James. "Jessie, when you lied to me and ran off like that, I thought that you lost interest in me!"

  "You know that's not true, James," I said. "I love you more than anything else in this world! Those badges didn't mean squat to me! The only thing that matters to me is you!"

  "I love you too, Jess," said James. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me!"
  "Does that mean you forgive me?" I looked at him with my sapphire eyes, which were still kind of misty from crying.
  "Of course I forgive you," said James. "And I'm sorry if I upset you by raising my voice to you!"
  "Apology accepted," I said. "And I'm sorry if I didn't kiss you properly! I didn't mean to do it so hastily!"

  "That's okay," said James. "I know that you didn't want to embarrass yourself in front of Meowth! Well, Meowth isn't here! So, you can kiss me properly now!"

  We got closer and kissed under the moonlight. As we kissed, I felt all my hurt escaping. Just being with James that night made me feel better.  We were two halves of the same soul, and together, we were complete.