Showtime
by Alyssa
"Can somebody put my hair up for me? I can't do it myself if I can't *see* myself!"
"Look, is it *my* fault Koffing broke the mirror?"
"Indirectly, yes. And *you're* paying for the new one."
The first voice belonged to Misty, the second to James, the third to Jessie. Misty, Ash, Brock, and Team Rocket were in the dressing room, which was in chaos due to the lack of a mirror.
"ARGHH! The laundry guy shrunk my jacket!" Ash complained loudly. "I can't even get it on now!"
Jessie paused in applying her lipstick to toss Ash an identical jacket. "That's why we keep spares around."
Ash pulled on the extra jacket and pinned his badges to it. "Thanks." He squirmed. "It itches."
"It's new." Jessie finished with her lipstick and started vigorously brushing her hair.
"Ouch! Brock, don't pull!" Misty complained.
"I'm trying not to!" Brock replied, struggling with Misty's hair.
"That does it. James, *right* after this episode is over, you go buy the new mirror!"
"But Koffing broke it!" James said, his voice rising slightly in a whine.
"He's *your Pokemon*," Jessie said, finishing with her hair. As soon as Brock finished putting Misty's hair up, Jessie went over to him. "Do I look okay?"
"Umm... uhhh..." Brock stuttered, going into his "seeing a pretty girl" mode.
"Don't ask Brock, he'll think you look great just as long as you're female and somewhere near his age," Misty said, as Ash tied his sneakers.
"Hey!" Brock protested.
"It's true and you know it," Misty said.
"All right, what do *you* think, Ash?" Jessie asked.
"Your lipstick's smudged a bit, other that that you look fine. Here, lemme help..." Ash fished a pack of tissues from his jacket and wiped the smudge off. He then discarded the tissue. "There."
"Thanks." The redhead looked in James' direction. "If we had a mirror, we wouldn't have to spend so much time helping other people with their costumes. Isn't that right, James?"
"Are you going to stop rubbing this in any time soon?"
Pikachu was watching the humans with interest and slight amusement. 'One of the advantages of being a Pokemon,' he thought. 'You don't need makeup or clothes.'
Meowth lounged next to Pikachu, playing with a yo-yo. "Man, being a Pokemon sure beats being a human in times like this!"
"Pika," Pikachu agreed.
"James, how did you get a leaf in your hair?" Jessie sighed, removing the leaf from James' hair.
"It probably fell on him from a tree," Misty offered. "There's a tree on the way here that seems to like dumping leaves on people."
"I think it's a plant Pokemon in disguise," Ash said, putting on his hat.
"Everyone ready?" Meowth asked, surveying the room.
"No thanks to Koffing, yes," Jessie confirmed.
"If anybody brings that up one more time..."
The semi-chaos was interrupted by a ding. The ding was the signal that it was time to go on the air. Exchanging glances, the cast filed out of the dressing room, as strains of the familiar theme song were heard from a distance. It was showtime.