A White Tomorrow [A Team Rocket Fanfiction]

Chapter 19

Jessie stared wide-eyed at the picture of her masked face on screen as the winner banner flashed below it. She didn't know how she'd done it. She usually had many failures before a success, but now for one of the first times she could remember she succeeded her first try.

People from all directions cheered for her as she was handed her ribbon. She was the center of attention. It felt good. It felt great. Jessie wanted to do this forever.

Out of everyone in the audience she could make out two voices yelling her stage name. She caught sight of James and Meowth and the twerps- she had looked for them and found them since the first round, and they were all cheering for her as loud as everyone else was. Maybe even louder.

James and Meowth were standing up in their seats, wildly waving their arms at her, and Jessie was sure that they wouldn't have a functioning voice tomorrow.

"YAY JESSIMINA!"
"YOU GO GOIL!"
"I'M MARRIED TO HER! THAT'S MY WIFE!"

Jessie gave a little wave back at them before she was called to the podium to get her ribbon. She stared at it in her hands and felt a grin speak across her face and she turned to her gang one more time and held it up to them, jumping and trying to yell out to them, not caring if anyone thought she was being childish.

She let the feeling sink in a little longer. She wanted to get used to this feeling, and her fifth ribbon already felt so close.

As soon as she got backstage to change, James met her there and they both ran to each other. Still in her performer dress, Jessie jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist, grabbing the sides of his face with the ribbon still in hand.

"I'm so proud of you, sweetheart! You were amazing out there!" James said, his eyes radiating the enthusiasm that was in his voice.

"Thank you," Jessie giggled and kissed him. Those words were so nice to hear. James had always been there for her, but now? Now it was ten times as good as before.

She was proud of herself too, not to be too arrogant. After so many years of reaching to become the Grand Festival winner, she knew her routines like the back of her hand. All the hard work paid off, and Jessie hoped with everything she had that it would continue to pay off.

The rest of the gang came up to congratulate her too. Misty looked the most astonished out of the three of them, probably because she hadn't seen that many live contests. Brock had that smirk on his face as if he had expected it- he had already seen it all, and Ash? Jessie made eye contact with the boy. He still had his moments where he looked like he was dreading something. Ever since they got back from Alola there was something off about him, from the way he acted to the way he looked at them. Especially the way he looked at her and James. She tried to ignore it, it didn't really bother her and it wasn't any of her business anyways.

The most obvious was when they had gone shopping so Jessie could get herself a dress to compete in: a light purple strapless dress that made her feel like the victor she was going to be. Ash insisted she wear something over her face, which was what she was going to do either way, she wasn't stupid; she had done that from the very beginning, and if she didn't, who knows who would recognize her as the person who had caused more disturbances than she could count. Whatever his deal was he'd eventually straighten himself up.

Jessie gave James and Meowth one last grin before running to change back into her regular clothes. She pulled her hair from its low pigtails and styled it back to normal. She grinned at herself in the mirror before grabbing her things and joining the group again.

She was still beaming with happiness as they all walked back to camp. They'd leave in a couple of days to go to the next city, Ash would train for the league with Misty and Brock while James and Meowth helped her with her next contest then they'd be on their way from there. Only four more. Jessie could almost taste it. Seviper, Yanmega, and Gourgeist would carry her to the end- and now that she thought about it she could start with Woobat and Frillish too. There were so many options and so many opportunities. If winning her first try wasn't a good sign then she didn't know what was.