Chapter 1
Jessi opened her eyes and the sunrise shone right into them. She moaned, and sat up, running her hands through her slightly messy shock of bright red hair. She was in a sleeping bag on the ground, she had been awakened by something a long time before she wanted to get up and it was annoying her. What had it been?
She looked around and saw the two other sleeping bags huddled close to hers. One contained a small catlike Pokémon, Meowth. He was snoring.
"Ahh...Meowth....mmmm....Meowth, Meowth...." Jessi rolled her eyes and looked to her other side, to the other sleeping bag there. It was the human member of her team. James.
James had his head face down in his arms. All Jessi could see of his head was the back of his shoulder-length blue-purple hair. He was making a little moaning sound in his sleep, like he was having a bad dream. He started mumbling something she couldn't quite understand. She watched him for a few seconds, kind of thinking he looked very good when he slept.
Then it occurred to her that his talking in his sleep was what had awakened her. She scowled. She really needed her beauty sleep. She pulled out her compact and looked in the little mirror. Sure enough, there were bags under her eyes. Her pretty face screwed up into a very angry expression and she balled up her fists. She hated it when James messed her up.
She brought one of her fists down hard on the back of James's head. He moaned again and lifted his head, looking around to see what had hit him. He looked up at Jessi and knew right away when he saw her angry face. He looked at her like a hurt puppy out of his large grey-green eyes from under his shock of messy morning hair.
"What were you talking about, James?" she demanded. James put a hand to his head.
"What?" he asked sleepily.
"You were talking in your sleep." Jessi said, crossing her arms across her chest, "You woke me up and now I have bags under my eyes." Her eyes filled with tears at the thought.
James blushed, "Just a dream." he said, "It was stupid. Nothing important." He fiddled with a string on the seam of his sleeping bag, then stepped out and stretched. Jessi was already up, rolling up her sleeping bag. She nudged Meowth with her foot. He woke up with a start.
"Meowth!" he yelped.
"Get up, Meowth." Jessi said grumpily. Meowth got up and started to put away his sleeping bag, grumbling about how he never got enough sleep.
James pulled out his brush and started taming his hair. He tried to work the annoying little strand of hair that hung in his face all the time into the rest of his hair, but it didn't work. He sighed and handed the brush to Jessi, who snootily pulled out the few blue-purple hairs stuck in the brush. Then she fixed the few hairs that were out of place on her swept-back hair, then she quickly covered it with another layer of hair spray.
James stubbed his toe in the dust as he rolled up his sleeping bag, and winced.
"What are we doing today?" Jessi asked, as she sat cross-legged in front of James eating her breakfast from one of the multitude of cans on the blanket they sat on.
"I don't know." he said cautiously between bites. Jessi was grumpy, and the best thing was to keep out of her way. Jessi rolled her eyes. James put down his empty can and picked up another.
"Where are the pests today?" Jessi asked. James was usually in charge of tracking them, but he seemed distracted, opening the can he had in his hands. Jessi put her hands on her hips in annoyance, "James!" she said again, and again, he didn't hear her. She clenched a fist and hit him hard over the head with it, "Focus, James!!!" she yelled.
"What?" he asked innocently, dropping the can and can opener. Jessi rolled her eyes at him and asked her question again.
He thought hard for a minute, "They should be near the place with the wild Pikachus." he said thoughtfully.
"Oh, good." Jessi said confidently, "Good. We can capture the Pikachus again." James sighed and looked down at his feet.
"We'll never win, Jessi. Never." he whined in a quiet voice. Jessi growled under her breath.
"James..." she started, and he flinched at hearing his name. Usually his name was accompanied by a slap, or a fist, mallet or fan on top of his head, "James, be a little more confident. Of course we'll win." Jessi finished, sounding very confident herself.
"I...I guess..." James stuttered. Jessi rolled her eyes fondly. James. Couldn't live with him, but she definitely couldn't live without him.
They packed up their picnic and started to walk along the dusty road. Suddenly James tapped her arm and she looked at him. He jerked his head at the bushes and they suddenly jumped into them as Ash, Misty and Brock walked by. Jessi whipped out her electronic binoculars to watch as James and Meowth prepared the Rocket Balloon to fly. It was a pretty complicated plan they had in mind. The Rocket balloon, with Meowth in it, would float above, ready to lift away the Pikachus, while Jessi and James would say their motto, and use a net to capture all the wild Pikachus. It was almost fail-safe. Jessi quietly laughed at the thought of floating away with all those Pikachus for the boss. Then they'd get rich, and they could go on a vacation.
Her and James stepped out in front of Ash, Misty and Brock and struck a pose.
"Prepare for trouble." Jessi said.
"And make it double." James said quietly, kind of distracted.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"Um...to unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to...uh...the stars above."
"Jessi."
"James."
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight." James finished. Jessi shot a glare at James. Ash growled under his breath. Pikachu stepped forward, but James merely closed his eyes and held out a hand to stop him, sniffing the red rose he held.
"What do you want? Like I have to ask." Ash grumbled.
"Pikachu." Jessi said, grinning. She tapped James's shoulder to get him to focus again. He started a little, then smiled and held up a walkie-talkie.
"Rocket one to rocket two." he said into it, "Drop the net!"
A net fell from the hovering Rocket balloon, but it missed. James shook his fist at Meowth up in the balloon.
"Meowth, you are such an imbecile!" he yelled into the walkie-talkie. Jessi looked at James, and as they looked into each other's eyes, Jessi nodded. They understood each other.
"Right." James said, then yelled into the walkie-talkie, "Meowth, the rope! And don't miss this time!"
"Sure thing." Meowth answered, and a rope dropped from the basket. James grabbed it, then grabbed Jessi's hand and they climbed up the rope.
"Time for a quick getaway." Jessi crowed, holding up her arm in a wave to Ash, Misty and Brock.
"Pi....ka....chuuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu yelled suddenly.
"Not so fast." Ash smirked. Pikachu's electric blast hit the fuel tank on the burner for the Rocket balloon and it exploded. The balloon shriveled and flew off.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Team Rocket shrieked as they flew through the air. Jessi screamed in fear of falling out of the basket, then fell onto something hard and hit her head. Everything went black.
"Jessi, wake up, come on Jessi, come on. Wake up." said a soft male voice in her ear. She made a painful moaning sound and fluttered her eyes a bit. She woke up for the second time that day to sunlight in her eyes and James's voice. Only this time he had his hand on her forehead and he was actually asking her to wake up. And this time she was glad she was waking up. It meant she wasn't dead. She moaned again and fully opened her eyes to find James looking down at her with a worried look on his face. She smiled at him to let him know she was okay.
"Where...are we?" she asked, trying to sit up and failing miserably.
"We're stuck in a tree." James said, his face falling, "And I don't know how to get down!" he shrieked, hands clenched at his sides in fear. Jessi tried to sit up so she could swat him over the head, but her own head hurt, so she didn't.
"James, you idiot, there has to be a way to get down." she yelled, putting her head back down. Only then did she notice that she had her head on something soft that was probably the jacket of James's Team Rocket uniform because he had it off. Her eyes filled with tears and she regretted yelling at James. But only for a moment.
She forced herself to get up and look around. She scooped up the little bundle of cloth under her head. Sure enough, it was James's jacket. She handed it to him.
"Thanks." she said meekly, as he put it back on. She looked around and realized why James had been so desperately unhappy about the situation. The strings attaching the balloon to the basket were surrounding the exits so thoroughly that there pretty much wasn't a way out. It was like being in a cage.
"How are we going to get down?!" Jessi sobbed, clenching her fists by her face.
Chapter Two
Team Rocket was still sitting in the balloon by three o'clock that afternoon, looking depressed...and hungry.
"I'm going to die if I don't get food." James mumbled miserably.
"Well, quit complainin', that sure ain't helping me." Meowth growled at him. James fell silent.
Suddenly a voice rang out in the silence James had left.
"Hello up there!" it said. Jessi sat up and peeked out of the basket of the balloon. There stood a girl about thirteen years old. She had short green hair. Half of it was pulled into pigtails, a piece at the side was in a little ponytail at the side of her face. She wore a blue shirt that slightly exposed her stomach, and tan cargo pants which Jessi found very becoming on her. It was stylish. Beside her stood a Pokémon that looked like some evolved form of an Eevee. It was silver, and kind of see-through, like a Ghost Pokémon.
"Hello, girl." Jessi said in a very sweet voice. She wanted this girl to help them get down, so she was going to charm her. James popped up beside Jessi and the little girl smiled cheerfully at him. Jessi also wanted the little Pokémon, but she didn't mention it.
"Hi." the girl said cheerfully, "My name's Meiya, and you two are Jessi and James, right?"
"H-How did you know that?" Jessi stuttered. The girl smiled at her.
"I'm a dimension-hopper. I like to follow different people through the dimensions and see how many different things can happen to them. I saw you two needed help."
"Dimension-hopper?" James asked. Meiya giggled a little giggle that sounded like crystal glasses tinkling together.
"Do you need help? I'll get you down and then I'll explain more." Meiya said. She walked up to the tree and climbed it like a little monkey. She tugged at one string on the balloon and the whole thing fell out. James fell headfirst, Meowth landed on him, and then Jessi landed on Meowth. She moaned and put a hand to her head.
"Thanks for...breaking my fall, James." she said in an embarrassed voice.
"This always happens." James moaned. Meiya dropped in front of them, laughing her crystal laugh again.
"So, you want an explanation? I think the best way is to show you my home. Temporeon, dimensional hop!" she said, laughing again.
A silver mist seemed to envelop all of them, everything shimmered and they were in an underground palace of ice and stone, and yet it was warm. Jessi pulled herself painfully off of James and Meowth. James stumbled to his feet and stared.
"It's bigger than my parents' house." he mumbled. It was a beautiful mansion all made of stone of all colors. Red, pink, green and blue all swirled on the walls, with crystal clear windows dotting it here and there.
"Don't you love it, isn't it beautiful?" Meiya bubbled. Jessi nodded.
"It is beautiful." she said. Meowth grinned.
"A guy could get used to livin' in this place." he said. Meiya grabbed Jessi's hand and ran up to the door. James followed, with Meowth tagging by his feet. Meiya pushed open the huge massive door and grinned as Jessi, James and Meowth looked around in awe at the size of the place.
"Do you want to see my room?" Meiya asked very politely. Jessi looked at James and he shrugged.
"Do we have a choice?" James asked. Meiya looked slightly offended, then shrugged and laughed.
"Of course you do. I just wanted you to come and visit." she said, then looked down at the ground and scuffed the toe of her hiking boot on the polished marble floor. It left a tiny mark, "It's just that there's nobody here to play with or talk to or visit with. I just get lonely, and I want some company. You can go if you want to."
"I...I...." Jessi started. They had to get on with capturing Pikachu, but the girl looked so sad....
Jessi looked over at James, who had a sad look on his face, too. Meowth was staring at the floor.
"James...should we.....?" Jessi asked.
James looked at her, "Huh?"
"We'll stay." Jessi said, rolling her eyes at James and putting her hands on her hips, "We could use a bit of a vacation."
Meiya brightened right up and smiled at them all, "Good, you can stay overnight, and I'll have the butler make up one of the upstairs suites for you and you can see my dimensions and all my photos of my friends, and....."
Jessi and James were staring at her with wide eyes, "Huh?" James asked again.
Meiya smiled, walked over and patted the back of his hand, "You look like you need sleep, James. But first, would you three like to come up and see my dimensions?"
"I-I guess." Jessi said. She was a little uncomfortable with the situation.
"Nyles, could you come here?" the girl said loudly. A butler appeared, with a balding head and a very straight-laced tuxedo walked in.
"Nyles, meet Jessi, James and Meowth. They're some guests of mine. Could you please set up one of the upstairs suites for them."
"What would the lady like for the requirements?" Nyles asked.
Meiya grinned as Jessi and James leaned forward to hear, she hooked her finger at Nyles, who leaned over to put his ear near her mouth. She whispered for a few minutes, gesturing and then Nyles nodded.
"The rooms are a surprise. I hope you'll like them." Meiya said softly. She smiled and ducked her head at them. They followed her up a wide stairway to a long, long hallway carpeted with padded royal red carpet, and with little tables with plants and vases and stuff on them. Team Rocket just kept staring around them.
They came to the end of the hallway, to a huge set of doors. Meiya pushed them open and twitched her hand at them to follow her in. They emerged into a room that was as large as a small house. The bed was huge, king-sized, and one side had about 10 stuffed Pokémon dolls on it. Then there was a Psyduck doll on the pillows, that looked very well-loved. In one other corner was a trampoline.
But the room was dominated by a huge wall of screens about 26 inches wide, side-by-side, hundreds of them. On the foot of the bed sat a large remote control. Also, the walls were plastered with photos of all sorts of people, hugging or just standing around, some had Meiya in them, some didn't, but every photo was of a different person.
Meiya picked up the remote control and smiled at Team Rocket.
"Would you like to see yourself in my dimensions?" she asked. Team Rocket nodded, and Meiya squinted for a moment, thinking, then tapped in the number '33896' on the remote, pointed it at the wall of screens and hit a button.
What was amazing was not the wall of screens, but what was on them.
"This is what we're doing in every dimension?" Jessi asked, eyes wide. Meiya nodded and pointed.
"Come on, sit on my bed. I'll explain them to you, what's going on, in every one, if you want...."
