Jessie's cheeks burned hotter, her heart raced, yet her feet moved on their own.
She walked over slowly, hips swaying just a little because of the short skirt, and sat down next to him, close enough that her bare thigh brushed against his leg.
She kept her eyes down, arms still half-covering her chest.
"Tell me about my mom… please," she said, voice small but urgent.
Ash nodded and took her hand gently.
"Your mom's name was Miyamoto. She was a high-ranking member of Team Rocket, one of their best agents."
"A long time ago she went on a secret mission to find Mew and she never came back."
"Everyone thinks she died in an avalanche with her team."
Hearing her mother's name and learning she had been a high-ranking Team Rocket member, someone respected, someone who had disappeared forever in the avalanche, Jessie's eyes filled with hot tears.
She stared at Ash, lips trembling, barely able to breathe.
The proud, fiery woman who had always hidden her pain behind jokes and big dreams suddenly looked small and lost.
Tears spilled down her cheeks in silent streams, tracing pale lines through the light blush skin.
All the loud confidence was gone. For years she had carried the thought that her mom had simply abandoned her, left her alone with nothing.
It hurt, but it was a hurt she could live with; at least her mother was out there somewhere, alive.
Now that story was shattered. Her mom hadn't walked away… she had died on some lonely mountain, trying to do her job. The woman Jessie had spent her whole life wanting to meet was gone forever out of reach.
She just sat there, shoulders trembling a little, eyes fixed on her skirt, tears rolling silently down her cheeks.
Ash wrapped his arms around her gently and pulled her close, letting her head rest against his chest. His hand stroked her long hair, voice soft and steady.
"Don't cry, Jessie… there's still a way to save your mother."
Jessie's head snapped up, her tear-streaked face buried against his chest. She pulled back just enough to stare at him, eyes wide and shining with desperate hope.
"What…?"
The single word came out small and shaky, almost a whisper.
Ash looked into her eyes and spoke softly, like he was sharing the most important secret in the world.
"There's a Pokémon called Celebi.
It can travel through time. If we find Celebi, we can go back to that day… and save your mom before the avalanche ever happens."
Jessie's tears kept falling, but something changed. The hopeless, broken crying turned into something different: tears of shock, of hope, of a tiny light she hadn't felt in years.
Her lips trembled. Her hands clutched his shirt tighter.
"You… you really mean it…?" she whispered, voice cracking. "We can… we can really bring her back…?"
"Travel with me," Ash continued. "I have to collect badges for the Indigo League anyway. We'll search together. "
"And with my abilities… catching Celebi will be easy when we find it."
"Plus… I turned off the pregnancy skill earlier," Ash said quietly, looking straight into her eyes.
"You're not pregnant, Jessie. And you're free to choose what you want to do next. I don't want to treat you, or anyone, like a real slave. That's not the kind of person who I am."
He took a slow breath and told her everything: the system, the missions, the rewards, the punishments, the way it first appeared to him out of nowhere.
He mixed truth with just enough careful lies (like the electric shocks for refusing, how the punishments hurt the people he cared about too), so she would feel he wasn't completely in control either.
When he finished, the room was quiet except for Jessie's soft breathing.
She stared at him for a long time, searching his face for any sign of a trick.
Then, she wiped her face and gave a small, shaky nod. "Okay… I'll travel with you." Her voice was small, but steady. "I want to save my mom…."
Later, Ash reached into his system space and pulled out Jessie and James's familiar red-and-white Poké Balls, Arbok and Weezing were inside them.
He held them out to her.
"Your team is in the police station right now. Officer Jenny took them in last night.
You can go free them if you want, quit Team Rocket for good and if you really want to travel with me, meet me in Pewter City. I will be heading there soon to challenge Brock for the Boulder Badge."
Jessie took the balls with shaking fingers. She stared at them for a long moment, then looked up at Ash.
Her eyes were still red from crying, but something stronger shone behind the red eyes.
She nodded, slow at first, then firmer.
"Thank you…" she whispered, voice soft but steady.
Then she turned and walked out the door without looking back.
Ash watched the door close behind her. He let out a long, tired breath and flopped backward onto the bed, arms spread wide.
"What a day…" Ash muttered to the empty room, flopping back onto the bed with a long, exhausted sigh. He stared up at the ceiling, a small, relieved smile tugging at his lips.
Then, still lying there, he flicked his wrist and opened all three women's glowing status windows at once:
__________________________________
Slave System
Slave: Nurse Joy
Level: 1
Experience: 3/10
Attributes:
- Strength: 1
- Agility: 1
- Stamina: 1/1
- Physique (Chest): D Cup
- Physique (Hips): Large
Affection: 46%
Pokémon: 2
Next reward at Lv 10
Next Reward (2) Progress: 1/10 Nurse Joys
__________________________________
__________________________________
Slave System
Slave: Officer Jenny
Level: 1
Experience: 1/10
Attributes:
- Strength: 1
- Agility: 1
- Stamina: 1/1
- Physique (Chest): C Cup
- Physique (Hips): Mid
Affection: 40%
Pokémon: 1
Next reward at Lv 10
Next Reward (2) Progress: 1/10 Officer Jenny
__________________________________
__________________________________
Slave System
Slave: Jessie
Level: 1
Experience: 0/10
Attributes:
- Strength: 1
- Agility: 1
- Stamina: 1/1
- Physique (Chest): D Cup
- Physique (Hips): Large
Affection: 58%
Pokémon: 1
Next reward at Lv 10
__________________________________
Three women who had hated him with every fiber of their being just hours ago… and now the affection numbers were climbing.
Not love yet, not even close, but the sharp, burning hatred from last night had already dulled into something confused, complicated feelings.
A tiny part of them, whether they admitted it or not, was starting to soften. Maybe even beginning to fall, just a little.
He closed the windows with a lazy wave, folded his arms behind his head, and let out a slow, contented breath.
"Tomorrow, I will leave for Pewter City."
Then, voice dropping to a whisper only he could hear: "And then the next Jenny… and the next Joy…"
The smile stayed on his face as he drifted into a light, satisfied nap, dreaming of an ever-growing collection.