Dream Vacation, Part 1

The resort was gorgeous. It had everything: hot springs, an indoor swimming pool, gyms, and saunas. And our room was beautiful too; it had beds with lace covers, and even lace curtains on the windows. We didn't really want to the close the curtains though, since it had a beautiful view of the mountains. The Boss owned some part of the place, and it was the off season for skiing, so he didn't make us camp out or sleep in the cleaning closet like he usually would. When it wasn't winter the place attracted mostly Pokemon trainers hoping to capture Pokemon in the nearby woods. By capture or by stealing, we ought to be able to score a few ourselves.

Jesse was really impressed by the place. She stood looking out the window and said, "This is so romantic!"

"It would be more romantic if we didn't have Meowth with us," I said.

Jesse glared at me. "I didn't mean it like THAT!" she said angrily.

I should have known better. Well, at least she didn't hit me in the head.

It was getting a bit late in the day to chase around in the woods, so we decided to go to dinner in the resort restaurant. We though the sight of a Pokemon eating at the table with its trainer might be unusual, but Meowth insisted on going with us. He agreed to speak only to us and keep as low a profile as possible.

When we got to dinner, we didn't see anyone we recognized except the twerps. They were sitting in the corner arguing over who was eating the most. Pikachu was on Ash's shoulder as usual. I wondered how well that pokemon remembered our little adventure last year, when Jesse, Pikachu and I broke into Professor Oak's lab. He had blasted us into the stratosphere as usual several times since, but I tried not to have hard feelings about it. We both had our jobs to do.

I noticed Jesse was silent and I saw that she was staring at a table in the corner of the room. A man in his late forties sat there by himself, leafing through a notebook.

"James, I have to go," she said.

"What's going on, Jesse?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Meowth, "Why do you keep staring at that 'dat guy?"

"Shhhh," said Jesse. I could see tears in her eyes.

"Jesse, please tell me what's going on!" I was really concerned now; it was so rare to see Jesse cry.

"He looks too much like... he looks like my father..." Jesse ran out of the room.

I just sat there, shocked. How could Jesse remember her father? I knew she hadn't been raised by her parents. Did she have a picture of him? It would have to be old.

I took a closer look at the man. He was the right age, and his hair was the same color as Jesse's. Other than that, it was hard to say. He didn't seem to have noticed Jesse but he was very intent on his notebook. And even if he were Jesse's father, he might not know what Jesse looked like either.

I still couldn't understand what was going on. I finished dinner and reluctantly went back to the room to confront Jesse.