Planes of Existence

Chapter 5

Renée jumped to her feet, "Good one, Meiya, way to train your

Temporeon." she said sarcastically.

"I-I...my...." Meiya stuttered, and her eyes filled with tears.

James looked in shocked horror at the place where Jessi had just stood. He

looked at Meiya, whose tears were overflowing and rolling down her face.

"Don't cry, Meiya." he said softly. Renée looked sorry, and reached

over to pull her little sister into a hug. James stood there, staring at

the floor.

"Jessi?" he asked again, "Um...where is she? Jessi?"

"Another dimension, somewhere. We better get to finding her..."

Renée said into Meiya's green hair, then let go and grabbed her remote. She

flopped down on her back on the bed and started channel surfing the

dimensions.

"Where is she, where is she...hmm.....where....." Renée mumbled as

she flipped through the dimensions so fast that James couldn't quite focus

on them.

"Jessi will tell Temporeon to come here again, won't she?" James

asked in a vulnerable voice. He sat down on the bed beside Renée and

stared at the screens.

"Temporeon won't listen to anyone but me..." Meiya sniffled, running

a hand across her face and looking at Renée.

"Oh, I think I found her....no.....it's so hard to tell. Wait, I

think I did. There she is. She got knocked out somehow, and Temporeon is

beside her." Renée said. Meiya looked up, and so did James. He saw her

lying there, crumpled on one side, and instantly wanted to help her.

"Can we get to her?" he asked, and his voice squeaked. Renée looked

at him fondly, like he was a cute little kid or maybe just cute, but she

smiled at him and then her face fell.

"I don't know how." she said sadly, fiddling with the little door on

the battery case of the remote. Meiya looked at her, kind of shocked.

"Renée, you have a Temporeon." she said. Renée dropped the remote

and fell over backwards on the bed.

"My Temporeon? You want me to use my Temporeon? I never go

dimension-hopping. My Temporeon is practically wild! It won't do any

good."

"Well, well...." Meiya said desperately, clenching her fists in

determination, "There has to be something we can do! I got her into this,

I have to get her out."

"Don't you mean we?" Renée asked, jumping to her feet and grinning,

"I guess we can try my Temporeon."

She walked over to the dresser and opened her top drawer. Inside was

a backpack, which Renée pulled out and opened.

"Let me see, Temporeon, Temporeon...." she mumbled, digging around

inside. She dumped out the contents of the bag on her bed, which was all

Poké balls. There were about fifteen or sixteen of them. She rolled them

around, then scooped one up, rolled it into the palm of her hand and hit

the button with her index finger. The ball enlarged to fill her hand and

she tossed it lightly onto the rug.

"Temporeon, I choose you." she said softly, then laughed, "I feel

dumb saying that for some reason. Like, like..." she snapped her fingers,

"...that annoying kid you found that time, Meiya, with the spiky hair and

the......"

"His name's Ash Ketchum....." Meiya interrupted.

"Yeah, I feel like I'm trying to imitate that dramatic little kid."

Renée said, leaning back against the bed post and looking at the little

Temporeon that was scratching at its neck like a little dog.

"Okay, Tempie, let's see what you've got." Renée said. She grabbed a

dark blue sweatshirt and folded it over her arm, "Ready to go?" she asked.

James jumped to his feet, shaken out of his reverie of staring at Jessi on

the screen.

"Right." he said, clenching a fist in front of his face, the perfect

picture of determination. Meiya jumped up.

"We need to get some food first." she said. Renée lifted one eyebrow,

then turned, grabbed the backpack and rolled all her Poké balls into it

and then reached into her drawer. She stuffed two handfuls of little

chocolate bars and other candy into the bag, then shut it and smiled at

her little sister.

"Good enough?" she asked. Meiya gave one nod and Renée turned to

Temporeon.

"Temporeon," she said very caringly, "Temporeon, come on. See there,

that screen? Could you take us there?" she asked. The Temporeon looked up

innocently at her, and scratched its neck again. Renée's shoulder's drooped,

"It doesn't seem to want to."

"Well..." James muttered, looking back up at the screen. Jessi was

still unconscious, and the Temporeon was wandering off. James got a

determined look on his face, "I have to go and help her. She's in trouble.

Please, Renée, you have to do something! Please?"

Renée ran a hand back through her hair, jutted out her right hip and

put a hand on it, sighing. She looked down at the little Temporeon and

sighed again, then looked at James staring longingly at Jessi on the

screen. She knelt down and looked at the Temporeon, then patted it on the

head. It looked at her blankly.

"Okay, now that you know I'm here." Renée muttered, "Temporeon, I

know you don't know me well, but could you go there for me? I'd really

appreciate it, and I have some gourmet Pokémon food stashed around here

somewhere that I can give you if you take us there."

Meiya's eyes widened, "You're bribing it?" she asked, in shock.

Renée shrugged, "Why not? It might work." Meiya nodded, and the

Temporeon looked up at Renée and shook its head, closing its eyes.

Renée's eyebrows drew down and she jutted out her bottom lip in an

angry expression. She reached in her backpack and drew out a Poké ball. She

pushed the button and the ball filled her hand. She brought it back, about

to throw it and twisted like a baseball pitcher, then threw the ball on the

carpet.

"Ekans, persuade it to help." she said angrily. A large purple and

yellow snake Pokémon popped out of the ball and James bit his lip, eyes

quivering.

"That's Jessi's favorite Pokémon." he said, his voice quivering too.

Renée smiled an evil smile and knelt by the Temporeon, who was looking

really scared of the Ekans that hung over Renée's shoulder.

"Now, Tempie," Renée said in a sweet voice, "Tempie, dearest, see

this Ekans? Now watch." she said, standing up. She pointed at the bedpost

that connected her bed to the green frog-printed canopy above, and then at

Ekans, "Ekans, coil around that bedpost." she ordered. Ekans obediently

coiled neatly around the bedpost, "Very good, Ekans." Renée congratulated

it, then called it back. She dug out another Poké ball, "If you don't think

an evolved form has to listen to me, then try this on for size. Dragonair,

come on out!" she called, tossing the Poké ball onto the carpet and

depositing the Ekans in her bag. A graceful Dragonair popped out and called

its name. Renée ordered it to do a few things, then called it back and

spoke to Temporeon again, "See? I'm a good trainer. Now, you......LISTEN

TO ME!!!!!!" she shrieked.

The Temporeon looked at the screen and its mist surrounded Meiya,

James, Renée and Meowth.

"Thanks, Temporeon." Renée remarked as they disappeared.

Chapter 6

Jessi woke up with a headache. She sat up and looked around, taking

in the scenery around her. She was on a dusty brown path surrounded by

woods, with a field up ahead. Pushing herself to her feet, she moaned as

she blacked out for a moment. Where was that miserable little silver

Pokémon....? She'd do some serious damage to that little thing when she

caught it. She had dust all over her outfit, and she'd just had a bath.

She made a small, angry 'hmmph' noise and brushed the dust off her short

skirt.

She looked down, and realized that the little Temporeon was sitting

by her feet. She resisted the urge to kick the little thing, and knelt down

beside it.

"Temporeon, dearest." she said through her teeth, "Now, will you

please take me home so I can clean up?"

"Temporeon." the thing said in a sweet voice, sitting on its

haunches and scratching at the silvery fur around its neck.

"Obviously not." Jessi said dryly. She looked around, trying to

figure out where she was, and realized she had no idea. There was a small

town in the distance, but she didn't know which town it was.

"Now how am I going to get out of this?" she asked herself, hands on

her hips. That was when she realized that she didn't have her Poké balls

with her.

"My Arbok!" she screeched, then started to babble incoherently in

fear as a huge Kabutops thrashed out of the bushes,

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!" she screamed, "You're supposed to be extinct!"

She turned and bolted into the trees, screaming.

"AAAAHHHH! Jaaaaaammees, help me!"

Unfortunately, James wasn't around to hear her calling him. He woke

up on the ground with his face in a puddle, unable to breathe. He sat up

quickly and tried to get the mud off his face. He heard laughing, and one

of the laughs was obviously Meowth. He looked behind him to see Meiya,

Renée and Meowth looking down at him. He rubbed his forearm across his

face and blinked twice. Renée reached down and grabbed his hand, pulling

him to his feet.

"Where's Jessi?" he asked, looking around, pulling his hand out of

Renée's.

"I-I don't know." Renée said, scuffing her toe in the dirt. Meiya

looked from one to the other and then sighed, staring at the ground.

"Well, didn't we go to her?" James asked. Meowth jumped up and

scratch attacked James's face, leaving him with red streaks across his

face and pained tears in his eyes.

"Ahhh." he moaned, almost silently.

"James, you idiot, if you can't see her, she obviously isn't here."

Meowth shouted in his ear. James got angry and grabbed for Meowth, but not

before Renée grabbed Meowth and tossed him on the ground.

"No need for violence." she said, closing her eyes.

"Where are we?" James asked, blinking away the scratches and looking

around. Meowth got painfully to his feet.

"Somewhere in the woods." Meiya said matter-of-factly, looking

around. James looked scared.

"Will there be Beedrill swarms?" he asked, putting his hands above

his head.

"This isn't the Viridian Forest." Renée said.

"Well, let's leave and go find Jessi." James demanded. Renée looked

down at Temporeon.

"No can do, James, Temporeon is too tired from that jump." she

said, "We'll have to make do here for a while. I'm hungry. Want to see if

we can find some food better than my junk food?"

"Sure." James said, and Meiya nodded. Renée dug in her bag and pulled

out some chocolate and tossed it to James and Meiya.

"Just to tie us over."

"You two seem to have something in common." Meiya said, crossing her

arms and smiling, "Like, um....constant hunger syndrome..."

"Oh, be quiet, Meiya. Like you eat like a bird yourself." Renée said.

"Hey, I didn't say I was immune." Meiya said. Renée bent and scooped

up Temporeon in her arms and cradled it against her chest. They walked to

the small town they could see in the distance, Meowth and Renée's Persian

scouting around in front, then James, Meiya and Renée carrying the

exhausted Temporeon.

When they walked into town, everyone looked at them suspiciously,

and they noticed that no one had Pokémon out, so Renée called back Persian

and Temporeon and Meowth hid under James's shirt. Then everyone stopped

looking at them funny.

"Are you three Pokémon trainers?" asked a guy with dark blue hair cut

long in the front and short in the back and sparkling ice-blue eyes. Renée

looked up at him and got stars in her eyes. She looked up at him, her mouth

open, hands clasped in front of her chest.

"Ooooh, what a cutie!" she said quietly. Meiya started laughing and

James looked disturbed. Meowth poked his head out and looked at the guy

before James shoved his head back down.

"Yes, we're trainers." James said, stepping forward and holding up

one fist. The guy held up both hands and closed his eyes.

"No, no, I don't want any of that!" he said, then held out one hand

to shake, "My name's Julian. What's yours?"

"I'm James, and this is Meiya and Renée..." he started, then Meowth

poked his head out again, then jumped to the ground.

"And Meowth....Meowth!" he said.

"Well, if you're trainers you'll need to be really quiet about it

around here." Julian said, "You don't want the PokéTrainer Underground to

hear about you. They'll steal your Pokémon for sure!"

Renée, still with stars in her eyes, looked up at Julian

longingly, "Oh, I'm sure you can help us, Julian...." she mumbled. Julian

laughed.

"How old are you three?" he asked.

"Seventeen." James said.

"Seventeen." Renée said at the same time, and shot a glare at James.

"I'm thirteen." Meiya said.

"Not tellin'." Meowth growled, crossing his arms. Julian laughed

again. He had a very pleasant laugh.

"Well, come with me, and you can have some food at my house." Julian

suggested. Renée and Meiya nodded, and James lagged along behind, arms

crossed, looking angry. He wanted to go find Jessi.

Meanwhile, Jessi was hiding in a bunch of bushes with sticks and

leaves stuck in her messy hair. She was practically in tears, looking up at

the Kabutops thrashing its blades through the bushes, trying to find her.

She clenched her fists and looked down at Temporeon.

"Help me..." she moaned, hoping that somehow James and Meowth would

know she needed help, "James, Meowth, help....."