Chapter 7
Jessi sat with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms around her knees, shivering. It had started to rain, and she was cold. Sitting under a tree was the best she could do for shelter. Temporeon, though, had warmed up to her somewhat, and was snuggled between her knees and bottom.
"Well, at least someone has shelter." Jessi mumbled, running her hands up and down her upper arms trying to warm herself. Suddenly there was a noise in the bushes and Jessi jumped to her feet, ready to run in case it was that horrid Kabutops again. But it was just a tiny little Caterpie and she ignored it.
"Maybe if I move I'll warm up." she suggested to herself, through chattering teeth. She stood up, and the Temporeon got wet with rain and angrily shook itself. A drop fell off of Jessi's hair down her back and she froze up solid for a moment until the cold drop warmed up. She delicately shivered, then pushed her way through the bushes, was spattered with a bunch of icy drips of water. She made a small pained sound and quivered. The Temporeon followed her, tagging along at Jessi's heels as she walked very quickly towards the town.
When she walked into town, she noticed that everything looked very empty. She looked around for a hotel, or a restaurant or somewhere she could get shelter. There wasn't anything open. She moaned, looked around again, and noticed a building with a battered sign saying 'Snorlax's Hotel and Restaurant', that looked abandoned. She walked over to it, and pressed her nose to the window. There wasn't anything inside, no furniture, nothing. She smiled to herself and walked over to the door, turned the handle, and was disappointed to find that it was locked. She growled under her breath.
"Grrr....where's James when I need him?" she mumbled, fumbling with the locked door and feeling another drip go down her back. James was the expert at picking locks. She put her hand on her hip. She was starting to realize just how much she needed that blue-haired freak.
She reached up and pulled a bobby pin out of her hair, bent it a bit and inserted it into the lock. She jiggled it around, trying to remember how James had done it when they were trying to break into that Pokémon breeding center...
The bobby pin broke in the lock and Jessi made a loud, annoyed sound. She whipped a mallot out and hit the door so hard it broke down. Temporeon jumped back, startled, and Jessi put her hands on her hips, satisfied. She walked in and settled down on the floor. She wasn't much warmer, but at least she could get dry and stay out of the rain. Temporeon snuggled by her side, and Jessi fell asleep.
James tapped his fingers impatiently on the table, waiting while Renée finished eating the food Julian had put on the table in front of her. Meiya was watching Temporeon and finally piped up.
"Well, Temporeon is better. We can go anytime."
"Good!" James said, getting to his feet. He was eager to find Jessi. Renée stood up slowly, not as eager to leave the good-looking Julian as James was.
"Now, just hold on a minute." Julian laughed, then picked up a Poké ball no one had noticed lying there on the table, "Wait a minute. You can't go yet." he said in a very sinister voice. James turned around from where he stood with his hand on the doorknob, ready to go out, Meiya beside him, the Temporeon by her feet.
Renée looked at Julian, and instantly he dropped the Poké ball and a Pokémon they'd never seen before popped out. It was very large, and looked like a Scyther with the pinching claws of a Pinsir on top. It darted towards Renée, who, keeping cool, dug in her backpack and whipped out a Poké ball.
"Go, Scyther!" she called, hurling the Poké ball towards the middle of the room. The Scyther shot out and leaped at the huge Pokémon.
"What is that?" James asked, nervously eyeing Julian's huge Pokémon. Julian laughed and pointed at his Pokémon.
"Pinscyther, go get it with your slash attack." he said. The Pinscyther leaped at the smaller Scyther and slashed at it, but the faster Scyther ducked out of the way and slashed viciously, opening a cut on the Pinscyther.
"Pinscyther, catch it with your pinchers!" Julian yelled.
"Scyther, Agility/Fury Slash!" Renée called two split seconds later. The Pinscyther leaped, ducking its head and snapping its pinchers at Scyther, who ducked and leaped out of the way, but just a little too late. The Pinscyther caught Scyther in its pinchers and held the struggling green bug Pokémon still. Renée growled.
"Come on Scyther! You can get out! Fury Slash it!" she called. The Scyther Fury Slashed repeatedly and yet the Pinscyther held it.
"Rrrghh.....Scyther, return." she called, holding its Poké ball up and recalling the Scyther, she started reaching into the bag again, but Julian held his hand up.
"No, Renée," he said quietly, "this is not about a Pokémon battle. This is about Pokémon..."
"Battling. That's what Pokémon are for, isn't it?" Renée asked, rolling the Poké ball she'd pulled out of her bag in her palm. She tossed it to James, shooting him a look that said Just in case, James.... He caught it, hoping he knew the attacks of the Pokémon inside. Julian recalled his Pokémon and dropped the ball on the table, then grabbed Renée around the waist. He pulled her against his chest, holding a knife by her throat.
"Put all your Poké balls down on the table, all of you, or she dies." Julian threatened, then smiled, "To answer your earlier question, James, this is a Pinscyther, a mutation of a Scyther, much stronger, as you can see."
Meiya looked down at Temporeon and shivered. Tears welled up in her eyes. James looked angry and scared. Renée shut her mouth, face white and her eyes showing she was scared.
"Why are you doing this?" James demanded.
"I am a member of thePokéTrainer Underground, an organization that currently owns all remaining Pokémon on the planet Earth. After the great epidemic of Pokémon fever, only a few Pokémon remained, the strongest. The PokéTrainer Underground started out as an organization to save Pokémon from the epidemic and help repopulate the various species of Pokémon. Now we have become an organization bent on taking over the world through the use of mutated and specially-bred Pokémon." Julian explained.
"So that's why..." Meiya breathed.
"What?" James asked.
"They gave us suspicious looks because we had Pokémon. Only members of the PokéTrainer Underground have Pokémon in this dimension..." she said.
"Give me all the Poké balls you have." Julian grinned, "The boss will be so pleased."
"That sounds familiar." James muttered, as he stepped forward, pulling the Poké ball containing his Weezing out of his pocket to put on the table. He'd hidden the Poké ball Renée had tossed to him. He lay down his Weezing on the table, and rolled the mysterious Poké ball into the palm of his hand, ready to use it.
Julian stepped forwards, ready to scoop up the Poké balls.
"First you let Renée go." James demanded.
Julian smirked, "Hah. I have you pinned. I can do whatever I want to little Renée here..." he snickered. James stanced forwards, lifting a fist, angry.
"No!" he said angrily. Julian pressed the knife against Renée's neck and she closed her eyes, tears running down from under the eyelids.
"Okay." James said, reaching for the Poké balls on the table, "Okay. You don't keep your end, we don't keep ours."
"I'll kill her." Julian warned, and James kept scooping up the balls, "Fine, fine!" Julian said, releasing Renée. James reached out and put his hand on her waist, pulling her behind him. She started crying and Meiya hugged her. Julian reached for the Poké balls and suddenly James hit the button on the Poké ball he had in his hand and threw it.
"Poké ball, go!" he said, and out came Renée's Ekans. James smiled. He knew this Pokémon's attacks.
"Ekans, wrap attack!" he shouted, pointing at Julian. Ekans leaped forward, and Julian jumped out of the way, scattering Poké balls everywhere. Ekans went after him again, and successfully managed to contain him. The whole incident had gone so fast that Julian didn't have time to call up one of his mutated Pokémon.
Renée, still sniffling, bent down to Temporeon, "Please get us out of this twisted dimension and to the dimension where Jessi is." she said, patting it's head.
"Temp-temp-or-eon." it said, affirmatively. James collected all the Poké balls into Renée's backpack, his Weezing in his pocket and Meiya collected hers into her cargo pants pockets. Renée called Ekans back as they dimension-hopped out of there. Julian shook his fist at them as they disappeared.
Chapter 8
"Get up, girl!" said a loud, harsh voice. Jessi opened her eyes and squinted up at a woman standing there in a blue miniskirt and top, with a police hat perched on her spiky blue hair.
"O-Officer Jenny?" Jessi stammered.
"Yes, it's me, law enforcement. What are you doing here? Who are you?" she demanded, very rudely. Jessi got to her feet, brushing her hands down the front of her skirt. The Temporeon at her feet stretched, and yawned.
"I was looking for somewhere to get out of the rain..." Jessi started.
"Well, why didn't you go to the Pokémon Center? You broke and entered!" Officer Jenny shouted, putting her face right in Jessi's. Jessi started getting angry and started to put a fist up when she realized that sweetness might be her best bet in this situation. Instantly she put on her 'sweet' face.
"I'm sorry Officer Jenny, I didn't know there was a Pokémon Center in town." she said, realizing that she was really telling the truth.
"Well, I'll let you off on a warning, this time, but you'd better get to the Pokémon Center and get yourself cleaned up." Officer Jenny said, stepping back and jumping on her motorbike. She sped off as fast as it would go, leaving Jessi coughing in a cloud of dust. Jessi growled, looked down at the Temporeon and stalked off towards town.
James was prepared for re-entry and didn't pass out. He landed on his feet in the middle of a path in a wood. He looked around, and saw Meiya and Renée, brushing dust and tidying themselves up.
"Are you okay, Renée, that wasn't a good experience." he said.
"Oh, I'll survive." Renée said shakily. She looked down at the little frog on her shirt, and fiddled with her fingers. Meiya walked up and gently punched Renée on the shoulder.
"Come on, cheer up." she said softly, hugging her big sister, who hugged back, then cheered up. Renée hitched up her backpack on her shoulder and smiled at James.
"We might just be in the right place now." she said, pointing to the little town in the background, "That's Fossil Town, the home of the few remaining wild Kabutops and Kabutos, the extinct Pokémon, in this dimension. I saw it in the background of the place where Jessi was, and this is the only dimension with Fossil Town in it."
"Really?" James asked, brightening, "Well, let's go find her." he said, walking off towards the town.
"How do you know she went to town?" Renée asked, catching up to him. Meiya nodded.
"Well, Jessi would go somewhere civilized. She doesn't like to rough it much, unless it involves a picnic." James said in a sure tone of voice, "So let's go and find her."
Jessi stepped into the tiny Pokémon Center and sure enough, behind the counter was Nurse Joy, a girl with pink hair tied back in loops, and innocent blue eyes. Jessi rolled her eyes and walked up to the counter. Then she realized she didn't have any Pokémon to revitalize or anything. She looked down at Temporeon and scowled. This was all that stupid Pokémon's fault. And it looked perfectly revitalized.
"Could you recommend somewhere I can get something to eat?" Jessi asked grumpily. Nurse Joy smiled.
"Well, there's a restaurant in town. You could go there. Otherwise, no, I'm sorry." she said in a sweet, perky voice.
"Thanks." Jessi said, then spun on a heel and left the Center. Nurse Joy always made her sick with how sweet she was.
The advice was no good either, because Jessi had no money to buy food at the restaurant with. She grumbled and wished she had some food, she was getting very hungry.
Jessi decided to head out of town and see if she could maybe find some berries or something in the woods. This was highly unsatisfactory, she hated foraging, and usually her and James at least had some canned food, if not pizza or chinese food. Something warm would be nice. Jessi sighed and scuffed her toe in the dust of the road.
When she looked up, there, right in front of her was the Kabutops again. She screamed, turned and ran as fast as she could back towards town.
James jumped in the bushes when he heard noise up the road a ways. Right away, Renée, Meiya and Meowth followed him. They crouched until James heard a familiar scream and realized who it was making the noise. Jessi!
He jumped out of the bushes and stood in the middle of the road waiting for her to come. Renée creeped out behind him, holding Meiya's hand.
"Jaaaaaaames!" Jessi screamed in terror as she ran with the Kabutops right behind her. It left off chasing her soon after the chase began, but Jessi kept running, screaming from sheer leftover terror and frustration, "I hate it here!" she screamed, "I want to go home!"
Suddenly a familiar figure stepped out of the bushes at the side of the road. A familiar boy with blue-purple hair and wide green eyes, smiling at her. James.
She stopped dead in the middle of the road and looked at him.
"James?" she said.
"Yes, Jessi. Nice to see you." he said. She suddenly ran at him and threw her arms around his chest and put her face in his shoulder.
"James you came!" she cried, then let go and looked up at him just as he was starting to awkwardly put his arm around her. His face was all red across his cheeks, but he was smiling. She let go, stepped back and regained her composure.
"Where were you?" she demanded.
"Well, Renée's Temporeon wasn't trained and then we ended up in this weird dimension with this guy who tried to kill Renée and then I saved her with Ekans and...." James started and Jessi rolled her eyes at him. He stopped.
"Not nice to have you back." Meowth said crankily, looking up at Jessi, eyes betraying the fact that he actually was happy to see her. Jessi stepped on his head.
"Let's go home." Jessi said. Renée recalled her Temporeon and Meiya patted her Temporeon on the head and spoke softly to it as it nuzzled up to her.
"Okay." Meiya said cheerfully.
The mist enveloped them and they went home.
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