Jessie, James, and Meowth ran for their lives from the swarm of Scyther, screaming all the way. It was awhile before they realized that the Scyther weren't following them around anymore, and as soon as they found their balloon they immediately stopped in their tracks, panting with the exertion. "That was a close one!" said Meowth.

"I'll say it was," said James. "Good thing we got out with our lives." He ran his fingers absently over his almost-bald head. "Even if we did lose our hair." He grinned sheepishly.

Before he could react, Jessie slugged him across the face. "That's easy for you to say!" she shouted. "Your hair isn't even that long!"

When James turned to face her and calm her down, he noticed that there were tears in her eyes. "Aww, come on, Jessie," he cooed, "you look cute with... ah... almost no hair."

"No I don't!" Jessie exploded at him, slugging him a second time before storming off to go sulk at the far edge of the clearing.

"What's gotten into her?" said James.

"Beats me," said Meowth with a shrug. "Come on, let's get to work fixing our hot-air balloon."

James nodded and followed Meowth over to the balloon to get to work.

Jessie was still sulking when the sun set and James took a break from his work to fix dinner. "I just don't get it," said James sadly. "She's never just sat and sulked for this long."

"I dunno," said Meowth. "Maybe one of us should go talk to her."

"I'll do it," said James, standing up. "You watch the pot while I'm away." With that, he walked over to where Jessie was sitting. "Alright," he said, "what's the matter? You've been like this all day--this isn't like you. Normally whenever a mission fails you're eager to move onto the next thing."

Jessie heaved an audible sigh, but said nothing.

"You know you can tell me anything," said James, cautiously kneeling beside her and putting up his hands to defend himself in case she turned violent.

Jessie glared at him. "It's just..." she said, and then she sighed again. "Look, you gotta promise you won't tell anyone about this, okay?" she said.

James smiled. "Of course," he said.

"Okay," said Jessie. "See... back when my mom was around, she was so proud of my hair. She said it was the most beautiful hair in the whole world, and she loved to see it nice and long. So I... so I told her I'd never cut it, just for her. And now those stupid Scyther came and cut it for me!" Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes again.

James, unsure of what else to do, slowly put his arms around Jessie, and was relieved to find that she didn't throw him off. "You don't have to worry about that, Jessie," he reassured her. "You know you'll always be beautiful to me. And I'm sure your mom would think the exact same way."

Jessie smiled. "I suppose you're right, James," she said, slowly standing up and wiping the tears from her eyes. "You're right; it's silly of me to think of things like that. Besides, my hair's bound to grow back eventually."

"Exactly!" said James.

"Now," said Jessie, her eyes lighting up eagerly, "did you get dinner ready? I'm starving!"

"I was just in the process of--" James began. But before he could say anything more the the two of them found themselves confronted with a doused campfire, an empty pot, and a very full-looking Meowth. "Meowth, what have you done?" Jessie demanded, seething with rage.

"Hey, youse two were taking awhile so I thought I should start dinner before it got cold," Meowth replied smugly.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Jessie and James screamed in unison, as they grabbed him and began pounding every inch of him that they could reach.

"Ehehe... it's good to see you guys are back to normal!" Meowth gasped between blows.