Chapter Text
When Meowth had said he was okay, Jessie hadn't thought twice. James had checked all the tanks before setting up Meowth's holding spot, doubling checking over and over despite Meowth's reassurances that he'd be okay.
And he'd relented after that. Which Jessie was grateful for. If it meant she didn't have to be worried, she'd let James silently worry.
Though she'd never admit it, his concern did rub off on her a bit. After all, he was a Pokémon. His body was much smaller than theirs, meaning he'd need much more oxygen as long as they were up there.
But a part of her kind of hoped that the balloon would burst before the oxygen ran out.
“Don't tell me now we're out of fuel!” James exclaims, just as a faint sound reaches her ears.
The faint sound of hissing.
The twerps start screaming for Orville, and while he's only able to hear Meowth, they still try.
Jessie's attention turns to the top of the balloon, where the hissing is coming from.
“Jess,” James’ hands grasp her shoulders, a tint of fear in his eyes. “Please tell me-”
“That's not the balloon,” Jessie said, voice shaking as she clutched her own mask. “It's Meowth's oxygen tank.”
Meowth didn't even realize something was wrong until the oxygen he was supposed to be breathing didn't feel like oxygen anymore.
He didn't really pay attention(something he would end up regretting), too focused on Orville.
He really only started realizing something was wrong when his vision started blurring, and breathing suddenly felt like being crushed with a semi truck.
At first he just thought he was just running out of oxygen, but the more he thought about it, it made less and less sense. Sure, he was a smaller Pokémon, but it wasn't like he needed that much oxygen.
…right?
And yet, as he started to realize even talking to Orville was becoming tricky, he started realizing that maybe he did need that much oxygen.
The balloon dissolved into panic.
Well, James did. Jessie stood frozen, staring up at where her friend was slowly dying.
She didn't know how to actually say it, but it was scaring her. Bad.
The others stared at each other, worry etched in their faces, but they didn't know what to do.
What could they do?
Pikachu was the first to act. He grabbed Ash's mask and sucked in several breaths before jumping onto the balloon, shouting something.
She couldn't tell if he was talking to Meowth or Orville.
But she was soon to learn that it was Orville, because soon enough, Orville was crashing through the roof of the balloon, Pikachu and Meowth crashing down with him.
“Meowth!” Jessie sank to her knees beside the barely breathing Pokémon, shoving her own mask over his face.
Come on, come on.
Breathe.
Please just breathe.
Please wake up.
James knelt down next to her, eyes wide with fear. “Is he breathing?”
She couldn't answer. She thought if she opened her mouth, she'd start crying.
She couldn't cry. She had to stay strong and keep Meowth stable until they hit the ground.
“Come on, Meowth, please wake up..don't do this…”
“Pika pi…” Pikachu uttered sadly, staring down at its fellow Pokémon. It jumped down, its cheeks sparking.
James pulled her away before it unleashed a light shock, striking Meowth.
Finally, finally, Meowth's eyes slowly blinked open, hazy eyes staring up at her.
“jess..” Jessie threw the mask over his face hearing how weak he sounded, but the reality that he was awake and talking was enough to calm her beating heart.
“We're here, Meowth, we're right here,” She whispered, squeezing his paw. “You're okay..”
You're okay….
They land a few moments later, and they don't even give Pikachu the satisfaction of blasting them off(Pikachu didn't even look like it had the heart to) before they disappeared into the trees.
Jessie was still holding Meowth close to her chest, her fear slowly decreasing as his breathing stabilized. Finally, they were out of the woods.
Once they finally stopped, she leaned against a tree, still holding their smallest partner close.
“Are you okay?” She asked once he finally opened his eyes again. He nodded slowly, still not trusting himself to speak.
She honestly couldn't blame him.
James knelt down next to them. “You scared us half to death, you know that?”
“James, don't sound so harsh about it!”
“Well, he did!”
“Don't make him feel worse about it!”
Meowth whined slightly, claws digging into her shirt. She gave James a look. “See?”
James sighed, gently tussling Meowth's fur. “Sorry, old chum, but you did scare us. A lot. We didn't even realize what was going on, and if we'd realized later-” He had to physically stop himself from saying the rest of the sentence.
“i'm sorry..”
Both humans blinked hearing the scratch cats voice. It was Jessie that spoke first. “Hey, don't be sorry, things happen. Maybe we should've made better tanks.”
“Or bought better ones.” James grumbled. “Ones that won't explode when they're an inch below level.”
“That's also something we could've done, but you didn't do anything wrong, okay?”
Meowth nods, still not looking at her. Jessie shot James a look, still holding her friend.