Meowth found himself staring at a teenage girl at eye level. She had bright blonde hair, and round, almond eyes. Her cheeks held a rosy glow to them.
Meowth jumped back, screeching, "Pikachu!?"
The girl fell over yelping as she did, "Meowth!?"
"What happened to you?"
"I could ask the same question!"
Meowth looked down at his paws, only to find they weren't paws, but hands! Noticing a stream nearby, he ran over to the water, followed shortly by Pikachu. He stared into the reflection, gasping in shock. He was totally human! Messy hair, so blonde it was practically white, and a pair of catty black eyes looked back at him. He pinched his arm, trying to wake up from whatever was going on. "Dis is one wacked-out dream I'm havin'."
"You can't be having a dream," Pikachu told him. "Unless we're having the exact same one."
"How can I know you're not just a figment of my own imagination, tryin' ta confuse me by sayin' you're havin' da dream too?" Meowth queried, glaring at the former mouse.
Desperately wanting to thundershock him, but finding she couldn't, Pikachu slapped him instead. "Does that feel like a dream to you?"
"Hey!" Meowth snapped, wondering if he could do a fury swipe attack without any claws. "Dat was a dirty rotten trick! You just did dat so you could beat me up!"
"I did it because you were asking stupid questions!" Pikachu growled back, wishing for a tail to hit him with. "Look, we'd better stop fighting so we can figure out what's going on."
They sat down on the creek's bank, not looking at the other. Meowth fingered the golden necklace around his neck; it had a piece resembling his old charm on it. "Da last ting I remember we was goin' after da oddas, 'cause dey was zapped inta dat machine..."
Pikachu jumped up. "That's it, then! The machine was called a Reality Alterer, or something like that. It must take you to your perfect world. Remember, like it did for Molly?"
"Who's Molly?"
Pikachu face-vaulted. "I keep forgetting. You villain types never know what's going on- you just follow us around dumbly."
"Dat sounds like an insult t'me an' my partners! If dey was here-"
"Ash would kick the crap out of them, like always!"
"Yer trainer's a lucky idiot!"
"Your trainers' are incompetent unlucky idiots, which is ten times worse!"
"Dey ain't my trainers, and no one calls 'em dat but me, got it?"
"You couldn't steal a crippled Magikarp!"
"You couldn't beat one in battle!"
"Dirty streetcat!"
"Rotten little rat!"
They were about to launch themselves upon the other when a voice interrupted their thoughts. "Hey, Mark, Penny, what are you guys doing over here?" They looked up to see a tall, green-haired boy with squinty eyes and a wide smile trot up to them. He took in the scene in a minute. "Don't tell me you were fighting again. You two are always at it. Come on, I set up camp over the hill."
Meowth, being no stranger to lies, made up one quickly. "We'll be dere in a sec, Aaron," he wondered how he knew the name, "I tought I saw sometin', er... interestin' over dat way."
Aaron looked to where Meowth was pointing. "Well, if you find something rare, let me know." He turned around and trotted back over the hill, leaving them alone.
Meowth raised an eyebrow. "Penny?"
"Mark?" Pikachu countered.
"Wonder who dat guy was anyway," Meowth pondered. "He musta come from both our imaginations."
Pikachu thought for a moment. "The height probably came from Arbok, and the stupid smile... Wobuffet?"
"Maybe Koffing," Meowth added. "Da green hair was prob'ly Bulbasaur, Chikorita an' Victreebell, and da squinty eyes from Cyndaquil."
"Or Brock." They snickered, forgetting for the moment that they were supposed to be enemies. Pikachu put a hand on her hip, eyes widening. "Hey, I think I might have Pokéballs." She pulled three round green balls from her belt. "Odd-looking balls."
Meowth dug around in his jacket until he found a couple. "How come youse got more den Meowth?"
"They probably represent our human friends," Pikachu commented. She smirked. "Wanna see what we've got?"
"It'll be interestin' ta see what Pokémon Jess and Jim look like," Meowth agreed, throwing one of the green balls out. Out came a Flareon, with bright blue eyes and a main of firy reddish-orange hair. Meowth laughed. "I tink I caught a Jessie!"
"My turn!" Pikachu said eagerly. She blushed. "There's something I've always wanted to do." Meowth raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Pikachu brushed a strand of hair from her face, doing a perfect imitation of Ash about to throw out a Pokéball. "I choose you, Humanmon!"
Meowth cackled and clapped appreciatively. "Humanmon, I like dat!" Out of Pikachu's ball came a Slowpoke, but it wore a hat and its eyes were wide and blank. Meowth laughed harder. "Dat's gotta be Ash, dere's no way it couldn't be!"
Pikachu frowned, unhappy to see her trainer as a stupid animal like that. "Humph. Maybe the others will be better." Popping open the remaining two, out came a fierce orange Gyrados and a squinty-eyed Onix. "You know, I think this thing goes by their Pokémon Types."
Meowth remembered the book Cassidy and Butch and sold in disguise. "Yeah. But I tought dat ting was a fake."
"It was, but afterwards, Ash, Misty and Brock got a new one. Misty and Brock's were the same as before, but Ash's turned out to be a Slowpoke. We all about died laughing when we found out." Pikachu chuckled at the memory.
"Den dat must mean..." Meowth quickly shoved the other Pokéball back into his shirt, calling the Flareon back. "Okay den, let's get goin'."
Pikachu grabbed his shirt as he turned. "No way! I want to see what James is! This must be good, if you're too embarassed to show it! Come on!" she begged, deciding that, enemy or no, she was going to get along with him for the moment.
Meowth sighed. "Fine, den." Out of the remaining ball came...
Pikachu fell over laughing. "A MAGIKARP!?"

"Ha!" Professor Ivy laughed happily. "Finally unlocked the bugger!"
"Bugger?" Stephen managed to give a tired half-smile. "When did we become British?"
"Would you prefer if I called it a fu-"
Elm dropped the pen, sighing and saying quickly. "That's okay, Vi. Bugger's fine with us." He nodded to Sam. "D'you want to see this?"
"That's all right. Just read out whatever it says," he told them, not looking up. "I'm killing two birds with one stone, this time. These next two went in simultaneously- they're in a single world. After this one, it's Tracey's."
"Good to hear." Violeta pulled the shelf back, looking in for a manual. "I don't see any-"
A hologram popped up suddenly, causing Violeta to jump back in surprise. In moments the perfect image of a short woman with pink hair appeared. "Hello you lucky people! If you're watching this right now, then someone you know must have messed with Li'l Washu's Reality Alterer!" She wagged a finger at them. "That wasn't very smart, now was it?" Violeta and Elm sweat-dropped. "Now I'm sure you wanna know how to get your friends back, huh?" Nods. "It's really quite simple, actually. I shorted out the machine when I sent it into space, which means something else is causing it to work again. All you have to do is destroy the power source, clip the wires connecting the worlds, and bam! That's the end of their perfect dimensions!"
"Why didn't I think of that?" Elm asked himself, which was followed by three pairs of eyes rolling.
The woman call Washu smiled. "Bye-bye alien world! And make sure to put my Alterer in a safe place where no one else will find it, okay? Until the next group of unlucky saps find me!" And she disappeared.
"Destroy the power source," Stephen thought aloud. "It must be those Unown... we're going to have to kill them all!?"
Violeta was already grabbing the box filled with the Unown (a.k.a. Scrabble pieces). "Driving over the box a few times ought to eliminate the problem."
Stephen put out an arm to stop her. "Hold it, Violeta! I know we want to get the kids out, but why cause an entire species to go extinct in the process? I know there's another way..." he snapped his fingers. "Of course! Tranquilizers!"
"Tranquilizers... what good will those do?" Elm wanted to know. "The Washu woman said we had to destroy the power source!"
Samuel Oak, who'd been paying attention to the "manual" and the argument, stopped further discussion. "But while they're asleep they won't be able to keep control of the Reality Alterer. Stephen has a good idea, but we can't put it into action just yet. Let me get this world cut, and then we'll worry about the Unown."
No one had any objections, so the remaining three professors sat down to watch Sam finish. Downing cups of coffee to stay awake, they waited somewhat impatiently, anxious to get this over with.

"So, Mark," Pikachu said later that night, after a satisfying dinner cooked by Aaron. "Wanna see who's got the better battling team?"
Meowth knew Pikachu was just trying to embarass him; he only had one decent Humanmon, as they called them, since a Magikarp was next to useless. "Why not just enjoy dis while we got a chance?"
"Ah, don't be a scaredy-cat- no pun intended," Pikachu teased. "I won't beat you up... too much." "But you got two water-types and a rock-type, and all I gots is da Flareon. You got a shoe-in victory simply 'cause of types."
"And because my team is better."
"Yer team ain't never gonna be better! I bet Jess is thirty levels above yours! If youse didn't have dat type advantage I'd whip ya like dere was no tomorrow."
"If you're so confident in Jessie, then why not battle?"
"Because, because..." Pikachu taunted him by making chicken noises, until Meowth finally gave in. "All right, fine! Stupid rat."
"Let's go, then. I'll even go ahead and send out Ash first, just to be nice. Go Slowpoke!"
"Dat's fine wit' me! Go Flareon!"
Meowth and Pikachu couldn't help chuckling to themselves, thinking how great it was to be on the other end of the battle. Using their knowledge of Pokémon techniques and skills (which they were literally experts on), both sized up the opponent quickly.
"All right Jess, you're faster den dat Ashpoke!" Pikachu growled at the nickname. "Bite its head an' don't let go! Remember all da times dat kid embarassed ya- attack him like ya mean it!"
The Flareon leapt into action, latching firmly onto Ash's head with a ferocity that surprised even Meowth. Slowpoke, being the stupid thing that it was, didn't realize he was in pain until about ten seconds later. Ash shook his head, trying to unhook the vicious set of fangs in its skull, but to no avail.
"C'mon Ash! You've got a tradition to uphold! Use a confusion attack and make her let go!"
Meowth realized that a confusion attack from such close range would be devastating. "Let go, Jess! Back off an' trap it in a fire spin!"
Showing quick reflexes, the Flareon nimbly jumped away, dodging a confusion attack and trapping Ash in a thick coat of fire. Pikachu saw the tide quickly turning in Meowth's favor; Jessie's lust for revenge was too strong for Ash. "Ash, water gun! Get the flames out!" Her voice was high in panic.
"Too late for dat!" Meowth grinned viciously. "Jump troo da top of da flames and finish dat twerp off wit' a tackle!"
Meowth could have sworn Jessie laughed her nastiest as she did was he said, sending the 'Ashpoke' into dreamland.
"Ash, return!" Pikachu tucked the Pokéball away. "Don't think just because you got lucky means you're gonna win. You may have rage, but I have skill!" She threw out another ball. "C'mon Gyrados!"
The bright orange Gyrados towered above Flareon, making the flame 'Humanmon' seem pathetically weak.
Once more Meowth decided to use Jessie's natural anger. "Hey Jess! Dat Misty twerp always used ta say you was an old witch, remember? Now's yer chance ta pay her back in full! Attack her wit' everyting you got! Take down attack!"
"Dodge it Misty! Then hit back with a hydro pump!"
Though Gyrados managed to get away from the full power of the attack, Jessie still managed to clip her with a fairly strong blow. Inwardly, Pikachu sighed. If that had been dead-on, Misty could have been in a lot of trouble.
The hydro pump hit straight and true, Flareon never having a chance to get out of its way. Meowth looked at the ground, cursing to himself. He'd never beat Pikachu now, with nothing but a Magikarp. He sniffed in defeat. "Jessie, re-"
"FLARE!"
Meowth jerked his head back up. Both he and Pikachu had their mouths open in awe. Jessie was still standing firmly on both feet, glaring daggers at the Gyrados.
"No way!" Pikachu cried. "Any ordinary Pokémon-"
"Jessie ain't no ordinary Pokémon!" Meowth interrupted, reminding himself to give his friend more respect back in the real world. He laughed. "Slam her wit' anudda take down, an' dis time don't let her dodge it!"
With lightning quick movements, spurred on by anger, Jessie launched herself at Misty's throat, knocking the breath and fight completely out of the Gyrados.
Pikachu called Misty back, gritting her teeth in frustration. "I don't know how you pulled this off, but it won't happen again. None of that thing's attacks can touch Brock!"
The squinty-eyed Onix popped out, ready for battle. Even Flareon took a cautious step back, knowing this battle would be no easy win.
Meowth decided to take an interesting gamble. He recalled Jessie, holding his only other Pokéball in one hand. "I know dis ting don't stand a chance," he thought aloud, "but maybe if I can give Jess some time ta rest she can get back out an' beat da rock snake. Here goes nothin'. C'mon Magikarp!"
Pikachu smothered a laugh, watching the fish flop around. "Weird move, cat. Not that I can complain- makes my job a lot easier. Okay Brock..." she paused, deciding she didn't want to hurt James too bad. "Oh, just be nice and tackle him into unconsciousness."
Onix's long body obediently went after the Magikarp, who continued to flop around pathetically. Meowth covered his eyes, not wanting to watch the quick defeat. The stupid fish couldn't even dodge the attack, it was useless on land... Meowth repeated his own thoughts. It was useless... ON LAND! He realized a way he could hold Onix off, maybe even win the match. "James, you gotta get inta da water! Dere's a stream just over dat hill! Flop like you never flopped before!" Even he had to laugh at his stupid last sentence.
The 'Humanmon' did as it was told, somehow jumping across the land, barely a step ahead of Brock. Onix growled its disapproval at the odd game, wanting to finish off the water-type quickly. Meowth and Pikachu ran along behind, Meowth winking at his rival. He tapped his head. "Brains is da ting ta win with, rat."
She sniffed. "In that case, you're pretty much screwed, aren't you?"
James flipped into the stream not a moment to soon. Onix threw himself recklessly after the fish, hitting the water face first. Brock pulled himself back quickly, shaking his head to clear the spots. He searched the water, waiting for his chance.
Meowth clenched his fists, feeling a victory coming on. "Here's da battle plan, Jimmy-boy! Keep jumpin' up and flickin' water at Brock! All you gotta do is stay outta reach of da Onix!"
As Meowth knew, James followed orders well. He did exactly what was expected, continuosly hitting Brock head-on without endangering himself. Pikachu watched in numb shock; she couldn't believe she was actually losing: not just to Team Rocket, but to a freaking Magikarp!
"Let's finish dis twerp off, James! Jump straight for its head, an' get as much water on him as ya can!"
Meowth laughed victoriously, Pikachu covered her eyes, Brock panted with weakness and James leaped...

...And Professor Oak cut the wire...

Tracey woke up in a very strange, colorful world. He blinked rapidly, but everything remained the same. "Where in the world am I?" he asked no one, rubbing at his eyes and hoping things would change. Nothing.
The watcher glanced behind him, a look of amazement stuck on his face. He had been sleeping under a tree, of sorts- a blue-green tree with orange leaves that seem to be crammed together in odd places. "Like something out of a picasso artbook," he muttered, running a hand along the wood and finding that it felt like an oil painting. "Too weird."
Everything that had happened came back to him in a flash, and the artist stood up with a start, smacking his head on an overhanging treebranch. Rubbing his skull with one hand and shading his eyes with the other, he took in his unusual surroundings. The tree wasn't the only thing to take on a surreal appearance; everything from the purple sky to the square, yellowish clouds that jutted through it screamed artistry.
"And this is MY perfect world?" Tracey snorted. "Yeah, right. WAY too disturbing; I'd rather have the real world. I really ought to see if the others are here- I'm sure they are- and tell them what's going on..." he paused, watching an animal that looked like a Rattata made with the stippling technique. Oh, it was just too good to resist! "After I get some sketches! This world may be screwed up but at least it's a great place for some inspiration!"
The artist plopped back down underneath the red-leafed tree, pulled out his sketchbook and a pencil and drew furiously, trying to capture everything as quickly as possible. "I hope these drawings don't disappear when Professor Oak gets us out of here... I bet no one's ever done anything like this... I could be famous! What a dream!"
After what felt like a few minutes (but was in reality about a half hour) Tracey stood up, tucking the book into his backpack. He chewed on his eraser indecisively, wondering which way to go. "Well, if this is my world, then I should know where to go, right?" He closed his eyes and thought hard. "The city is west! Then that's where I'll go!"
The watcher took off in that direction, but before he'd travelled more than a few meters he came over a hill and saw a deliciously artistic valley, complete with a stream and sculptured trees. "Uh..." he sat down again and pulled out his book. "Ash and the others can wait there's no way I can pass up this chance!"

"Houston, we have the last world!" Oak said triumphantly, sitting back and taking a much-needed break from his tricky job. "Have you found those tranquilizers yet, Vi?"
She and Professor Elm trundled into the main room with a large box between them. "Lord Sam, what in the world do you need all these for?"
"Have you met Ash's Muk?"
"Uh, no..."
"Then you're a very lucky person," he smiled tiredly. "Pull out some syringes, we'll need to do this fast and snip the last world even faster." The older man cracked his back. "Tell me when they're all out, and I'll get to work."
Stephen followed the two younger professors to where the box of Unown sat. "I better give you a hand. There's so many of them this could take years."
"Let's make it five minutes," Elm suggested. "Give those cords enough time to harden some more and they could get stuck in that watcher kid's world forever."

Tracey had been walking, stopping and walking some more for a bit over two hours now, when he finally came to a small city at the edge of the field. "This feels like home, all right. I hope I put everyone else in this place..." he paused again. "Yeah, I did. I'll find them on... Green Street, in the arcade. That's where we always go."
He once more set off, resisting the urge to sketch some more. Before long he was on Green Street and inside the arcade he somehow knew about. Sure enough, there were Ash, Misty and Brock, looking pretty engaged in a video game.
"Just a couple more steps..."
"Brock watch out for that guy behind you-"
"I got it!"
"Thanks Mist!"
Tracey snuck up behind the three and pinched Brock and Misty's necks. They jumped about two feet off the ground and came down hard on Ash. "AH!"
The watcher snickered while Misty berated him for the bad joke. "That wasn't funny! We were just about to win too!"
Brock stood up, rubbing his back. "Man, nearly four hundred yen down the drain."
"Oh, sorry... wait that's really not that much money."
"It is when you're ten points away from the high score!" Ash argued. "Where'd you come from, anyway?"
Tracey turned serious immediately, remembering what he was here for. "When I tell you, you might not believe me." Confused looks from all three. "Follow me, we'll go down to 'McDiglett's' and I'll tell you all about it."

Brock stared at him. "An alternate dimension?"
"Uh-huh."
Misty blinked. "And we've all been taken through ours?"
"Yeah."
Ash still looked completely lost. "So now Professor Oak is trying to get us back into the real world?"
"Pretty much."
Silence, then...
"HAHAHAHA, you've gotta be getting me!"
"Oh boy, Trace, did you really expect us to believe that one!?"
"Yeah, right, gimme a break!"
Tracey frowned and was about to explain the entire thing over again when the room started shimmering. For about two seconds everything seemed to flash off and on in a staticy way, like on a bad television... then it was back to normal.
Ash put a hand to his head. "What was THAT?"
"Professor Oak's probably trying to short out this world- it should be the last one left," the artist explained matter-of-factly. "I wouldn't be surprised if we get flashes like that pretty regularly until the world's finally gone."
Misty smiled in a patronizing way. "Eh, Tracey... no offense or anything, but this story you're giving us is pretty hard to swallow. First off, a reality alterer seems WAY to weird. Secondly, if we've been through our own 'worlds,' then how come I don't remember any of them?"
Tracey shrugged. "I don't really know, Misty, but since this is MY world and things are supposed to have been this way forever, then maybe you have no memory of your reality because technically, it doesn't exist."
"Huh?" That coming from Ash, of course.
Professor Oak's assistant sighed. "Don't try to understand it, you'll just wind up with a headache. Listen, have any of you guys have any fuzzy sorts of memories about dreams you had- wonderful, perfect dreams?"
Brock paused, thinking hard. "There was this one I had last night... I can't remember anything but a girl, though..."
Misty nodded. "I know I had a great dream about two guys fighting over me..."
"And I dreamt that I was two steps away from winning the Pokémon League..." Ash added. "But I always dream about that, so what?"
"Dreams, hm?" A feminine yet strangely manly voice mused from behind the four. "I had a particularly wonderful one last night..." the voice sighed. "But all I can really remember is a woman and some roses."
A female voice put in her own remarks. "You too? Wow, then I wasn't the only one who woke up and wanted to go right back to sleep."
"Looks like we all had nice dreams, eh?" a New York accent asked.
Tracey turned his head so fast he popped his neck. "Team Rocket?"
James looked a bit lost. "Team who? What're they? It sounds like a club... some unit of NASA, maybe?"
The watcher sighed. Stupid him. Of COURSE there'd be no Team Rocket in his world. "No, it's... well, it's what you guys are in the real world." He paused. "I wonder if there's any chance you two were sucked in as well? After all, you do always chase after Ash..."
"What are you doing here anyway?" Ash wanted to know.
Jessie sniffed. "We just came in to get something to drink. We heard you all laughing about something and decided to see what the big deal was. Then we heard headband-boy mention dreams and decided to join the conversation." She pretended not to care. "So what's all this about, these reality things?"
Tracey was about to go into detail, when the world buzzed out again, for much longer this time. Everyone grabbed their heads and blinked hard. "I hope there aren't too many of those."
The watcher expected his old enemies to be as disbelieving as his friends, but they were quite the opposite. James leaned further over the booth, snatching a french fry from Brock's plate. "So this is just some reality that came out of your head? Hm... what's the real world like?"
"Are we rich and famous?" Jessie demanded. "C'mon, spill it kid!"
"Well, er... ah-heh... you'll just have to see for yourselves," Tracey really wasn't in the mood to tell the duo what life was really like- they seemed to be doing a lot better in this reality.

"Just about done?" Samuel asked his colleagues.
Professor Elm filled another syringe with a tranquilizing fluid. "Last one." He jammed the needle into the final Unown, smiling in satisfaction when it settled down to sleep. "Cut away."
"Right."

"Yeah, Tracey, tell us what da other world is like!" Meowth demanded. "We'll be going back soon anyway so it's not like-"
Everything faded into blackness. The people in the restaurant, the scenery; everything but the four twerps, Pikachu, and Team Rocket disappeared into a blank world of nothing.
"Where... where are we?" Misty asked timidly. "What happened?"
Even Tracey seemed unsure this time. "I hope Professor Oak didn't do anything wrong... if he did we might... we might..."
"Be stuck here forever!" Brock concluded.
The artist sighed. "That, or slowly fade into nothingness ourselves."
Everyone let out a long, low moan.
Ash blinked. "I'm... I'm starting to remember the real world... It's coming back."
The others nodded and chuckled a little. "How could I forget?" Meowth asked rhetorically. The cat paused. "Hey... my own world is gettin' clearer too... wow, I nearly beat the yellow rat in a battle."
"Chu!" Pikachu stuck her tongue out at him.
Jessie and James looked at each other and blushed. Misty, Brock and Ash didn't meet each other's eyes either. Tracey sensed the tension, but wasn't sure exactly what was causing it. He didn't have to wonder long, though, because a moment later they all started to shimmer a greenish color. "This is it!"
"Are we gonna...?" Misty gulped; she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"We'll find out soon enough," Brock said grimly, grabbing hold of her hand as Ash did the same thing.
Misty's eyes widened at this gesture. "Brock, Ash, I..."
"Mist, there's really something I need to get off my chest-"
"I shoulda told you this a while ago-"
James sighed nervously and gribbed his partner's hand. "Jessie?"
"James?"
"Listen... if this really is the end... then there's something I need to... something you should..."
"Same with me," she interrupted. "James, I-"
"Jessie, y'see-"

...And Professor Oak clipped the last connections to the final world...