I'll Protect You from Nightmares: You're Never Alone
By Jadesfire2
Summary: TR (rocketshippy! Most definitely! It's mostly a R-shipper story. There's a little Twerpshippyness in here-yuck-but it was important to the plot) TR, and Ash-tachi find themselves on an island where people with sensitive minds start to hallucinate, and believe they are reliving the worst part of their lives. Unaware of this, OUR heroes, and the twerps, are soon finding that members of their group are starting to act a little strange...
Please read and review, this is my third fan fic, (second on FF.net) and my previous fic, I'll Follow You, was well received so I hope you all enjoy this as well.
A HUGE thanks to Dorothy, Anna, Allie, and everyone else who reviewed my last story.
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Chapter 1: Dream-Sphere
"Wow! Look at that!" Jessie pointed. James stared in the direction of her outstretched hand and looked. They had been following the twerps until they reached the seashore. Then those brats had heard about a famous Pokemon scientist that lived on the island about ten miles off shore. So he, Jessie, and Meowth naturally followed, hoping to catch that electric rodent, Pikachu. And they were now on top of their Magikarp sub, trying to see Ash-tachi's little paddleboat.
James saw at once what his partner was pointing to. It wasn't your average island. It was HUGE. You could see the green plateaus overlooking the sheer cliffs rising from the water. There was a huge mountain in the center and at it's peak was covered with snow. "What a view! I wish we could take a vacation instead of trying to capture Pikachu today. That looks like the perfect spot to rest." He expected Jessie to hit him for that-she took her job seriously, well, most of the time-but instead she nodded.
"I think we could all use a break, don't you think so Meowth?" Meowth looked up from the map and quick as lightening, fury swiped them both.
"While you`s two`s got your heads in the clouds, Meowth's doing something productive wid' his time!" He settled back down. Jessie kicked him into the water while James tried to rescue the map from falling off the top off the sub, along with Meowth.
"Well I suppose he's got a point," Jessie regretfully admitted, "We really don't have time for a break-not while the Boss is mad at us." James slumped down,
"If we don't catch pikachu, we'll have a permanent vacation!" he said mournfully.
"Come on," Meowth said, climbing back up onto the Metal-Magikarp, "Let's take Pikachu, then take a well deserved break!"
Meanwhile...
"Ash, we are heading way too much too the right," Misty yelled down from the roof of the paddleboat, "the one place you can land on this whole stinking island is two miles that way. Only you could get us off course when the place is smack dab in front of us!"
"Pika Pika." The yellow rodent agreed.
"Well you can't complain!" snapped Ash, panting as he peddled, "You aren't doing any of the work!"
"Yeah!" Brock agreed, gritting his teeth as he pushed down on the pedals.
"Well it's not my fault that there are only two sets of pedals," Misty chirped back. She sat contented on the roof of the boat with Pikachu on her shoulder and Togepi on her lap.
"Hey!" Brock shouted, pointing straight ahead, "Beautiful girl at twelve o clock!"
"Where?" Ash was looking more at eight o clock.
"Straight ahead!" Brock, whose eyes ironically only open when they turn into hearts, had stopped pedaling and was gawking at the girl who was quickly approaching on a Dewgong's back.
She wasn't a beauty queen. She was only a tad more than plain, but Brock will fall for any skinny form of estrogen. She was wearing a red and black striped wetsuit and her brown hair was flailing freely in the wind. The dewgong and rider came up to them quickly and soon Ash and co. found them selves face to face with the girl.
"You visiting Dream-Sphere?" She demanded, staring intently at them with large hazel eyes.
"Uh...Dream-Sphere?" Ash inquired, not sure how to answer.
"The island-Dream-Sphere-that where your goin'?" She replied.
"Yeah, that's where we're headed, why?" Misty told asked.
"Then you'll be coming with me. All visitors must have an escort-it's the rules." The girl said. She extended a gloved hand, "I'm Dr. Kakumei."
"Your Dr. Kakumei?" Ash asked dumbfounded, "we were coming to the island to meet you, but I sorta expected someone older." Ash admitted sheepishly.
"I'm fifteen."
"That's Great!" Brock yelled, jumping over Ash, rocking the boat, and vigorously shaking the girl's hand, "You're my age, and more importantly, my TYPE! I'm Brock by the way and I must say I admire your research in Pokemon psychology almost as much as I admire your beauty! Maybe we could get together sometime, you know I study Pokemon too--" he was cut off by Ash who introduced himself and Misty and the group went on their way to the shore.
"Do you see them?" Meowth asked from his back seat in the sub. Jessie nodded, and pushed the periscope out of her way.
"I saw them, they're headed too the island along with some other kid, who I could only see the back of her head," she informed them. They all started pedaling after the twerps.
"So Dr, --" Brock began, "What about pokemon do you study? I know you're into pokemon psychology, but what field?"
Kakumei looked up, "Well right now I'm looking at Pokemon's connection with nature. They seem to have a sixth sense--" she was cut off by Ash.
"POKEMON SEE DEAD PEOPLE???" everyone stopped to stare at him, all thinking the same thing-mental institution.
"Uhhhhh.......No. I was talking about the Pokemon's link with all living things. Do you remember that big upset in the Orange Islands a while back? Rare birds attacking, the weather being totally messed up, remember that?"
Ash-tachi all nodded. They remembered.
"Well did you see all them pokemon on the news? They were all headed for that battle with those birds. They were pokemon from all over the world. They sensed that misbalance of nature long before anything really happened. The Pokemon intuition. I'm studying that."
The group was impressed. But Misty had a question, "Why do all visitors need chaperones? We wouldn't do anything bad, do you have a lot of top secret stuff of something?"
"Yes, we have a lot of top secret things here, but they are well out of reach. All visitors need an escort who has lived on the island for over two years. That's the rules here."
"Why?"
Kakumei explained, "Well the other thing I'm studying right now is this island itself. Something on it, or something about it, makes some people start hallucinating. Some people have a heightened sensitivity to the part of the brain that develops telechenitic powers. That part of the brain is usually dormant, however some people-though they probably aren't psychic-have very sensitive nerves in that part of the brain. They start hallucinating, living in a dream world. It's like they're sleepwalking. That's why you need an escort. I've lived here for a while and my brain has developed partial immunity-you can never be fully immune-and if any one of you starts to see things that aren't there I gotta keep you under control."
"Wow, that sounds kind of dangerous, why aren't we seeing things now?" Misty asked.
"Because you've only been here for about a half hour. We'll see how sensitive you are in an hour or two, but right now you're ok."
"Well!" Brock exclaimed, grasping Kakumei's hands, "I think that it's quite fascinating and in my dreams you would give me your phone number! How about making my dream come true and-ow! Ok, ok! I'll stop-ouch!" Misty had grabbed Brock's ear and was yanking him away.
Ash turned back to Kakumei, "It wouldn't be so bad to live in a dream world, but I'd rather become a pokemon master for real."
"No, no, no," she insisted, "Ya got it wrong kid. I'm not talking about your fantasies. For some reason, whatever-it-is is only showing you the bad stuff: nightmares, worst memories, greatest fears, stuff like that. It usually starts out with people reliving their worst memories, and it goes on from there, until they go crazy. That's why you need supervision. There's a treatment-I'm taking you to the infirmary now-that helps you process the hallucinations, but if it doesn't work I'll get you off the island right away. You have got to be careful, this island is literally your worst nightmare."
"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked her for the fiftieth time; James knew she wasn't and wouldn't admit it of course.
"I'm fine. for the last time James I'm ok." Jessie answered him. She wasn't really paying attention. She was staring every which way-as if she thought they were being followed.
"Well then, what are you looking for?" he asked. He looked down and saw that Meowth was looking around too. They would walk for a minute or two, and then he and Jessie would stop and ask James if he had heard anything. He hadn't.
"James have you ever had the feeling you're chasing shadows?" Jessie inquired of him.
"Huh?" he asked, not really seeing her point.
"It's just ya thinks you hear somethin' or see somethin' but when you turns around dere ain't nothin dere," Meowth informed him, and Jesse nodded in confirmation.
James looked around. There was certainly nothing out of the ordinary that he could see. There were trees, the ocean could be seen behind them, there was that mountain in the distance, and not too far away was the small settlement for the scientist and other people who worked on this island. It wasn't the most residential place. The only thing out of the ordinary was the fact that he had seen no wild pokemon at all. But that wasn't the point. After they robbed the research center they would either make a quick getaway or get blasted off. He just wanted to get off this island.
He wanted his friends back to normal. They hadn't started out like this, but it had come gradually since they had arrived and he didn't like it. James wanted them back to their usual selves-even if Jessie and Meowth could be mean like that-he liked his best friends just the way they were.
Especially Jessie. He had grown to love her strong and confident attitude; in fact, he had come to rely on it. Whenever he wasn't feeling good about something, Jessie-and sometimes Meowth-wouldn't let him wreck their spirits. No matter how many times they failed, Jessie's strength seemed to assure him that someday they would be happy. All people deserve to be happy don't they? And he was happy with Jessie. His Jessie. His strong, confident Jessie. Not this paranoid person, acting like a child afraid of a monster in the closet.
He wanted to find whatever had changed her mood and thrash it into next week for messing with her. He wanted to hug her and make her feel better, until she was once again the happy girl he'd come to love.
'All she needs is a good rest' he kept repeating to himself over and over in his mind, 'the cat too,' James thought. "I think we should set up camp, and attack the place tomorrow," he said.
The other two just nodded and they plopped their stuff down on the ground, still distracted by these unseen things.
James stared at her. It had taken forever for her to fall asleep, poor Jessie, she usually slept like a log. She was obviously having a nightmare. Jessie often had bad nightmares, and would wake up screaming and gasping for air, waking him and Meowth up. Whenever she was having a nightmare, and James was awake he would usually wake her up before the dream got worse. She would hit him if he interrupted a good sleep, but she was always relieved to be woken from a bad dream. He would have woken her up now too, however her paranoia had gotten far worse, and he wasn't sure if it was better to just let her sleep.
Meowth was having a nightmare too, and he hadn't acted any better than Jessie had before going to sleep.
James looked at his sleeping partner. The island was humid, but she was curled up in her sleeping bag, as if it would shield her from something. He wanted to hold her, and make her feel safe. He wanted to protect her from those shadows of her dreams. But even thought she was right there, the Jessie he loved seemed far away. James knew he would do anything to her back.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
"What's going on?" Ash demanded. He saw Misty sitting up straight in bed, panting and sweating, and grabbing the sheets with clenched fists. "Misty, are you alright?"
"Yeah...I-I'm fine, just a bad dream," Misty said shakily. 'It was just a nightmare,' she thought, 'everyone has nightmares; it's nothing to do with this island. I had that medicine earlier today, and I haven't been seeing things. It was just a bad dream...' somehow though, she really didn't believe that.
"Sleep well?" Kakumei inquired of them when they arrived in the dining room of her house/research center.
Ash was already inhaling his breakfast, "Yeah I slept ok, had a bad dream though."
Brock nodded, "Me too,"
Misty was glad but also worried that she hadn't been the only one, "I had a really bad nightmare," she said shyly.
Kakumei only seemed half interested, downing her plain white rice like there was no tomorrow. "That's normal," she said with her mouth full, "like I said, no one can be completely immune to the neurological affects of this place. It's if you start hearing or seeing things when you know you've got hyper-sensitivity to it."
"It was someone screaming! I'm telling you I heard it!" Jessie yelled, facing off with Meowth.
"It wadn't screamin'! It was a Pokemon roarin or attackin or somethin'. Meowth knows what he heard!" Meowth yelled back at her.
James wasn't sure how to react; he hadn't heard a thing. Well, he had thought he had heard something, but he had dismissed it. It had been like the far off sound of whip cracking, but he ignored it. He had his friends to worry about.
Misty wanted to leave; she wanted to leave right now. They were walking off to Dr. Kakumei's research center for a tour, but all these bug type pokemon along the path were really scaring her. She thought about asking if they could take a different route but then Ash asked, "Why haven't we seen any wild Pokemon here?"
"There aren't any wild ones on the whole island. If they were ever here, they're long gone." Kakumei replied. "I do my research with the pokemon I caught, or that have been brought to the island."
Misty froze. She looked around; there were weedle, metapod, and all sorts of bug types everywhere. Didn't they see them? No. She was the only one who saw these things. The island was showing her her fears.
"Dr. Kakumei, I think I'd better lea--" she was cut off by the sound of someone screaming not too far away.
"Someone's in trouble!" Ash shouted, running towards the sound.
"Don't worry Kakumei! I'll protect you!" Brock called, but she had leapt off at a dead run. She had passed up Ash and disappeared into the undergrowth-that girl was fast! The rest of the party followed behind.
"I thought you were dead!!!!" Jessie shouted at the thin air. James had decided that people shouldn't loose their minds this fast-something was up. Meanwhile Meowth was pouncing and scratching at an invisible enemy. He didn't know what to do.
"Jessie there's nothing there!" he shouted. She didn't hear.
"Does Giovanni know you're still alive? I'll bet that you're still running the company-that you're just giving the 'boss' instructions" she continued.
"What's going on here?" a voice demanded. James looked over to see a short brunette with hazel eyes and wearing an open lab coat over her black pants and red shirt.
She stared at him intently but he soon lost her interest as she looked from Jessie to Meowth, and back to Jessie, then back to him. "You know THAT's the reason you're required to have a supervisor on this island."
"You mean the island is doing this to them?" James demanded.
She nodded. Suddenly there were three familiar figures on the scene. Two of them yelled, "It's Team Rocket!" The other one screamed,
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! A SCYTHER!!!! GET IT AWAY! HELP! HELP!"
The girl in the lab coat, as well as the two male twerps turned to stare at her,
"Oh no, you too?" the girl asked Misty, who was backed against a tree screaming. "Alright," the girl continued, "Anyone who isn't seeing stuff hold your breath!" she ordered, and threw a pokeball. James, Ash, and Brock held their breath as the Butterfree that appeared spread it's sleep powder, and Misty and Jessie fell to the ground.
They were both on hospital beds. Often one would give a yell in her sleep, and they both tossed and turned restlessly. Kakumei monitored them from a computer console in the corner of the small room of the island's pathetic excuse for an infirmary.
"So when will they wake up?" Ash asked, staring at sleeping-Misty.
Kakumei didn't look up from her quick typing, "They wont. Even if they wake up physically, they'll still believe that they are where the hallucinations take them. It will be like they're sleep walking."
Ash didn't move. From beside Jessie's bed, James asked, "So how do we stop this? Can we wake them up? I mean really wake them?" there was a definite tone of worry in his voice. Jessie moaned again and James stroked her hair while Meowth pulled the covers tightly over her.
"Well they usually turn back to normal when you get them far enough away from the island. I can't seem to figure out why the neural suppresser didn't work, so we'd better get them outta her--" she was cut off by Jessie, who screamed, jolted up and opened her eyes.
"Jessie!" James and Meowth exclaimed happily. But then they remembered what Kakumei had just said.
"Where am I?" Jessie demanded. Her voice was small, like a child's, and her blue eyes were fogged and didn't seem to see. "Where's Momma?" she turned to James, "Where's my mother?" she demanded again, on the verge of tears.
James didn't know what to tell her. Jessie almost never spoke about her past. He had no idea where to find her mother-what could he tell Jessie? "It's best," Kakumei said from her respective corner, "To play along. If she gets too riled up, it could be hazardous to her health." James considered this. He didn't want Jessie to be hurt.
Her eyes, though fogged, were wild and childlike. And she stared up at him with those eyes full of tears, "They say she's dead, don't you say it too! She's not dead! She's lost! If you go and find her... you got to find her! She's not dead, you'll see! Please just go and get her..." Jessie was growing exhausted and finally plopped down on her pillow, "Where's momma?" she started again.
James sighed; he couldn't lie to her, "I don't know."
"I need momma! Where is she?" she tried to sit up again but she was too weak.
A thought struck James, "How old are you?"
"Five." No wonder she wants her mother.
"I don't know where she is, but if I see her I'll tell her to come here, ok?" she stared at him for a bit.
"She's in the Andes. She wont answer any transmissions...but that's just cause she doesn't want to get fired...for taking so long to find Mew," she was drifting off to sleep again, "but...but...if you tell her...tell here that I need her...than she'll come home, I know she will...she will..." she was asleep.
Ash stared at James. He left the room without a word, and Meowth padded after him. For a few seconds the room was quiet until Kakumei spoke.
"I'll call for a truck. That'll get us two the harbor. I'll make sure a boat's ready to sail as soon as we arrive. A mile away from here should bring them back." She left the room as well.
Ash stared at Misty. She was tossing in her sleep, but she had been quieter than Jessie so far. But maybe Jessie was worse. Maybe Misty would act like that too...he shuddered, not wanting to think about the woman in the next bed who thought she was a child, nor did he want to think about the look on James's face as he left the room. Sad eyes...
"Pika-pi..." Pikachu said softly from his shoulder, but the pokemon could not offer it's usual comfort to it's worried trainer.
"You know what?" Brock had been so quiet, Ash had forgotten he was there and the voice startled him.
"What is it Brock?"
"I think," he looked at Misty, "That we've been taking some things for granted," he glanced at Jessie, then Misty again, and turned to leave, "And when I say we, I mean all of us," the door clicked softly behind him, and Ash was alone.
"So...this is an interestin' turn of events," Meowth said, trying to make conversation. James didn't seem to hear. For once he seemed to be deep in thought. "Look, Jimmy," he started off carefully; James didn't look up, but Meowth knew he had heard him that time, "Meowth knows your worried `bout her," James looked up, "But there aint nothin' we can do."
"That's just it!" Meowth jumped back. He hadn't expected James to yell. "There's nothing we could have done, and there's nothing we can do now. Nothing. She's always calling me useless, and she's right! I should have done something, but there's nothing I could have done and now she's in trouble and I can't help her." Meowth stared at James.
"Meowth know Jess didn't mean you was useless," the cat began. As he opened his mouth to speak again, the room seemed to get foggy. That was weird. Far off in the distance, but coming closer, was the sound of waves breaking against the beach. The fog around him intensified, and James was getting harder and harder to see. Meowth couldn't think straight. All he could hear was a voice far off,
"You are alone. Come to me and you will suffer no more...come...you will never be alone again...come..."
Meowth shook his head violently. He knew he couldn't hold on to his thoughts for very much longer. "JAMES!" He yelled. He couldn't see his friend, but what was left of his conciseness told him that James was still there, "You aint useless, and you're gonna have to prove it...."
"Meowth? Meowth!" No use. The cat couldn't hear him. James felt guilty, that in his worry about Jessie he had forgotten that Meowth had been seeing things as well.
"Meeeooow!, Meow Morrow." Meowth whined desperately from the floor. He didn't seem to see anything. The cat walked a few paces to the left, then to the right, before settling on a path to the door.
"Meowth, you too..." James murmured. Meowth, of course, didn't hear. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" James yelled; he could hear the desperation in his own voice. "How could you leave me alone?" and then he heard two things.
One was the cracking noise. It was closer than last time. The other was what Meowth had said, "you're gonna have to prove it..." Meowth's right. Although the words "Meowth" and "right" didn't seem to belong in the same sentence, it was true. His friends needed him now, and he wouldn't let them down.
James ran out the door, and picked up Meowth who had been slowly making his way down the hall. He took the pokemon back to the patient's room. Ash was dozing in a chair by Misty's bed with Pikachu in his lap. Misty was asleep, but panting and sweating hard. She had thrown off the covers in her sleep, as appose to Jessie who was violently shaking under the covers.
James saw the Buterfree perched on an IV pole, and motioned for it to use sleep powder on Meowth. After the pokemon was asleep, James gently lifted the covers of Jessie's bed a little, so her head could be seen.
"Did you find Momma?" she asked softly. Her scared voice made James' heart break. He had thought she was asleep.
"No, I'm sorry. I'll keep looking." He told her.
Her foggy eyes seemed to glaze over, "She's dead isn't she?" she asked matter-o-factly.
"I don't kno--"
"She's dead. She's dead! She was right. I am alone. I'm alone..." she was starting to fall back asleep, though tears spilled down her cheeks. He hated to see her like this.
"You're not alone. I'm here."
"Who are you?" Even though she thought she was five, that question still hurt him to hear.
"My name is James. I'm a friend."
"James..." she repeated. For a moment, it looked like she was asleep, but those foggy eyes opened again to stare into his own eyes. "But...you're going away aren't you?"
"Only for a little bit, then I'll be right back here. In the meantime," he placed the sleeping Meowth in her lap, "Meowth will stay with you." He really didn't want to leave her, but he needed some questions answered.
Jessie's tired eyes looked at Meowth and then back at him, "Alright. Meowth can stay..." now she was really asleep.
Kakumei tapped the computer console restlessly. What am I going to tell them? She heard a click and James walked in.
"I want to know the whole story." He demanded. One eyebrow raised, Kakumei knew she was going to regret asking this, but there was no use beating around the bush, "Is that all you want to know?"
"Well I'd actually like to start with when are we getting off this haunted place?"
"I'd hardly call it haunted."
"Don't avoid the question."
With a long sigh and an agitated adjustment of her glasses, she told him, "Tomorrow, hopefully."
"Tomorrow! Is that the best you can do? She co- they could get permanent damage after that long."
"Can't be avoided. Have you looked out a window recently?" she saw him glance at the window to their right, and then gasp, disbelieving.
First of all, it was raining. Hard. Then there was the wind. If blew ferociously, sending tsunamis that were just small enough not to come crashing over the high cliffs.
"Were trapped on this island for now. A boat can't go out there, and neither can your balloon," she paused to look out the window with an expression that made her young, childish face look very aged, "Do you want to know something? This happens every time."
"What do you mean?" She glanced at the young man standing in front of her. He wore the face of a parent whose child had fallen to the hallucinations. She had seen that many times before. James was very protective of that red-haired woman.
"OK. You want to know the whole truth? Call in the others."
James and Ash walked down the hallway trying to find Brock. Neither had spoken a word to each other since James' "Kakumei wants to talk to all of us at once, twerp." Ash held Pikachu protectively, though James didn't seem in the mood to pull any tricks right now. Ash didn't care though; he was too scared of loosing any more important friends-human and pokemon alike.
"Brock! Brock, where are you?"
"Come on twerp, this is important!"
"Pikaaaaaa! Pikachu! Pika!"
Finally they heard an answer. Well it wasn't really an answer. It was a low, but familiar moan. After turning into a darkened hallway of the medical complex, they found Brock.
He was huddled in a corner, mumbling to himself. He hugged his knees, and rocked back and fourth. It was impossible to tell whether his eyes were open or closed.
"I'm alone. I'll never get a girlfriend. I'm gonna die alone and unloved. She was right. I'm alone. No girl will ever care about me..." he mumbled, over and over and over.
"Snap out of it Brock!" Ash yelled, snapping his fingers in front of the teen's face. He looked up at Ash, stared for a second, and then...
"Oh Nurse Joy!" he cried with pleasure, grabbing Ash's hands, "I didn't know there was a pokemon center here! Might I say that you are the most beautiful Joy I have seen, and I have been almost everywhere!"
"Dwwwaaaaahhhhh!!!!" Ash screamed and tried to back away. "BROCK!!! I'm NOT Nurse Joy! Don't you recognize me?"
"No, he doesn't," James managed to get out through breaks in hysterical laughter. Pikachu too, was chuckling and not hiding it very well.
"Well what do I do?" Brock was now making dinner plans with the hallucinatory Joy.
"Well...why don't you use sleep powder of something. Bulbasor or Chickorita--" James and Pikachu exploded in another fit of laughter at the thought of Chickorita and Brock getting into a cat fight over Ash.
"Well my I can't reach my poke balls!"
"Then have fun on your date. I always thought you two looked cute together."
"WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?!?!?!?!?"
"Oh relax twerp. It's just a joke-but not to Mr. Hormones over there of course. Now let's see..." he pulled out a Poke ball. "Victorebell, GO!" The pokemon popped out of its ball and clamped onto James' head. "Ow, stop lemme go, lemme go!!!"
Ash, who was getting more and more scared every moment due to Brock's sweet talk, decided that even though it was funny-now was not the time to let Victorebell have lunch. "Pikachu, give it enough of a shock to get it's attention. No blasting off today."
"Pika-Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!" Pikachu's shock attack got the plant pokemon angry enough to let go of it's master and go after pikachu.
"Ok Twerps, hold your breath," James ordered, "Victorebell, sleep powder!"
When that wonderful little excursion was finished...
"OK!" Kakumei slapped a chalkboard (that had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere) with a pointer, "That's three down-four if ya include the pokemon-and two humans and a rat to go."
James narrowed his eyes, "You could at least have tried to make that more inspirational."
"Now don't get krabby just cause your girlfriends' are having a lil bit of trouble."
She said.
Both Ash and James jumped up at once and shouted in a non convincing tone of obviously fake-disgust, "She's not my girlfriend!"
Kakumei waved a hand in front of her face, "Yeah, yeah anyway, here's the basic background of your current situation." Pushing a few stray hairs out of her face, she began.
"This weather is not coincidental. Every time someone on this island starts 'sleep walking' a tropical storm hits here. I believe that this is a way to keep the hallucinating people on the island. I don't believe this is a natural phenomenon either. I think someone is trying to make people believe that they are in some kind of nightmare world."
James jumped up, "That's right! Now I remember, both Jessie and the twerps said something like, 'she was right. I'm alone' but who is she?"
Kakumei raised an eyebrow, "I see. Well than it stands to reason that whoever-she-is is making everyone sick."
"Well how do we stop her?" Ash demanded. Pikachu was on the floor, channeling thunder to its cheeks as a show of strength.
"Well...by past data...everyone who starts hallucinating seems to be drawn towards the mountain at the center of the island. They sleep for a day or so, and then they start sleepwalking-heading for the mountain. However the storm has usually died down by then and we almost always get them out in time."
"Almost?" James asked, not liking the sound on that word.
"I'm afraid so. The others...we couldn't keep track of them. We haven't seen them-about ten in all since I've been here. "
Ash couldn't stand still, "So how are we gonna stop this?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I usually don't tell this to many people, however you are a special case." She said, her voice turning grave.
James wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he had to know. For Jessie. "Why are we a special case?"
"Whoever-she-is seems to have taken an extreme interest in," she took a deep breath, "Jessica." She winced as she saw James' eyes bulge with anger and fear, as he jumped up.
"What do you mean? Is she in danger? TELL ME!" he yelled in her face as she tried her best to keep her composure.
"I can't answer that because I don't know. What I do know is that the neurological field surrounding her, is much stronger than average. She is in danger of being completely and permanently drawn into the hallucinatory world."
Too shocked to speak, James sank back into his chair. Ash fidgeted, "And Misty?"
"Well the longer any of them are here, the more dangerous it will be." Kakumei said solemnly.
"So..." James asked, finding his voice, "What can we do?"
"Ah, action! Now you're talkin'!" she exclaimed. Lightening a bit, "Well obviously your pals are gonna want to go to the mountain. If we can put a tracker on one of them, we could find the person who's controlling them, and put a stop to it!" She slammed her hand on the desk dramatically.
Ash beamed. His optimism was returning, "So who will we track?"
"Well Jessica seems to be the one this person wants most, so if we tracked her we'd have a better chance of success."
James opened his mouth to process but he was cut off. "It's our best chance-maybe our only hope of stopping this." She seemed to want his permission.
Ash was already walking confidently out the office door. James turned around to look the doctor in the eye, "If anything should happen to her..."
She didn't give him any faulty reassurance, "I know." She said softly, and walked towards the room where the girls slept.
Well folks! That's part one! Did you like it? Hate it? I know it was too long ^_^;; sorry. Please read and review. I appreciate any opinions-but if you flame me at least have some constructive criticism. The Conclusion is coming very soon.
~Jadesfire2
By Jadesfire2
Summary: TR (rocketshippy! Most definitely! It's mostly a R-shipper story. There's a little Twerpshippyness in here-yuck-but it was important to the plot) TR, and Ash-tachi find themselves on an island where people with sensitive minds start to hallucinate, and believe they are reliving the worst part of their lives. Unaware of this, OUR heroes, and the twerps, are soon finding that members of their group are starting to act a little strange...
Please read and review, this is my third fan fic, (second on FF.net) and my previous fic, I'll Follow You, was well received so I hope you all enjoy this as well.
A HUGE thanks to Dorothy, Anna, Allie, and everyone else who reviewed my last story.
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Chapter 1: Dream-Sphere
"Wow! Look at that!" Jessie pointed. James stared in the direction of her outstretched hand and looked. They had been following the twerps until they reached the seashore. Then those brats had heard about a famous Pokemon scientist that lived on the island about ten miles off shore. So he, Jessie, and Meowth naturally followed, hoping to catch that electric rodent, Pikachu. And they were now on top of their Magikarp sub, trying to see Ash-tachi's little paddleboat.
James saw at once what his partner was pointing to. It wasn't your average island. It was HUGE. You could see the green plateaus overlooking the sheer cliffs rising from the water. There was a huge mountain in the center and at it's peak was covered with snow. "What a view! I wish we could take a vacation instead of trying to capture Pikachu today. That looks like the perfect spot to rest." He expected Jessie to hit him for that-she took her job seriously, well, most of the time-but instead she nodded.
"I think we could all use a break, don't you think so Meowth?" Meowth looked up from the map and quick as lightening, fury swiped them both.
"While you`s two`s got your heads in the clouds, Meowth's doing something productive wid' his time!" He settled back down. Jessie kicked him into the water while James tried to rescue the map from falling off the top off the sub, along with Meowth.
"Well I suppose he's got a point," Jessie regretfully admitted, "We really don't have time for a break-not while the Boss is mad at us." James slumped down,
"If we don't catch pikachu, we'll have a permanent vacation!" he said mournfully.
"Come on," Meowth said, climbing back up onto the Metal-Magikarp, "Let's take Pikachu, then take a well deserved break!"
Meanwhile...
"Ash, we are heading way too much too the right," Misty yelled down from the roof of the paddleboat, "the one place you can land on this whole stinking island is two miles that way. Only you could get us off course when the place is smack dab in front of us!"
"Pika Pika." The yellow rodent agreed.
"Well you can't complain!" snapped Ash, panting as he peddled, "You aren't doing any of the work!"
"Yeah!" Brock agreed, gritting his teeth as he pushed down on the pedals.
"Well it's not my fault that there are only two sets of pedals," Misty chirped back. She sat contented on the roof of the boat with Pikachu on her shoulder and Togepi on her lap.
"Hey!" Brock shouted, pointing straight ahead, "Beautiful girl at twelve o clock!"
"Where?" Ash was looking more at eight o clock.
"Straight ahead!" Brock, whose eyes ironically only open when they turn into hearts, had stopped pedaling and was gawking at the girl who was quickly approaching on a Dewgong's back.
She wasn't a beauty queen. She was only a tad more than plain, but Brock will fall for any skinny form of estrogen. She was wearing a red and black striped wetsuit and her brown hair was flailing freely in the wind. The dewgong and rider came up to them quickly and soon Ash and co. found them selves face to face with the girl.
"You visiting Dream-Sphere?" She demanded, staring intently at them with large hazel eyes.
"Uh...Dream-Sphere?" Ash inquired, not sure how to answer.
"The island-Dream-Sphere-that where your goin'?" She replied.
"Yeah, that's where we're headed, why?" Misty told asked.
"Then you'll be coming with me. All visitors must have an escort-it's the rules." The girl said. She extended a gloved hand, "I'm Dr. Kakumei."
"Your Dr. Kakumei?" Ash asked dumbfounded, "we were coming to the island to meet you, but I sorta expected someone older." Ash admitted sheepishly.
"I'm fifteen."
"That's Great!" Brock yelled, jumping over Ash, rocking the boat, and vigorously shaking the girl's hand, "You're my age, and more importantly, my TYPE! I'm Brock by the way and I must say I admire your research in Pokemon psychology almost as much as I admire your beauty! Maybe we could get together sometime, you know I study Pokemon too--" he was cut off by Ash who introduced himself and Misty and the group went on their way to the shore.
"Do you see them?" Meowth asked from his back seat in the sub. Jessie nodded, and pushed the periscope out of her way.
"I saw them, they're headed too the island along with some other kid, who I could only see the back of her head," she informed them. They all started pedaling after the twerps.
"So Dr, --" Brock began, "What about pokemon do you study? I know you're into pokemon psychology, but what field?"
Kakumei looked up, "Well right now I'm looking at Pokemon's connection with nature. They seem to have a sixth sense--" she was cut off by Ash.
"POKEMON SEE DEAD PEOPLE???" everyone stopped to stare at him, all thinking the same thing-mental institution.
"Uhhhhh.......No. I was talking about the Pokemon's link with all living things. Do you remember that big upset in the Orange Islands a while back? Rare birds attacking, the weather being totally messed up, remember that?"
Ash-tachi all nodded. They remembered.
"Well did you see all them pokemon on the news? They were all headed for that battle with those birds. They were pokemon from all over the world. They sensed that misbalance of nature long before anything really happened. The Pokemon intuition. I'm studying that."
The group was impressed. But Misty had a question, "Why do all visitors need chaperones? We wouldn't do anything bad, do you have a lot of top secret stuff of something?"
"Yes, we have a lot of top secret things here, but they are well out of reach. All visitors need an escort who has lived on the island for over two years. That's the rules here."
"Why?"
Kakumei explained, "Well the other thing I'm studying right now is this island itself. Something on it, or something about it, makes some people start hallucinating. Some people have a heightened sensitivity to the part of the brain that develops telechenitic powers. That part of the brain is usually dormant, however some people-though they probably aren't psychic-have very sensitive nerves in that part of the brain. They start hallucinating, living in a dream world. It's like they're sleepwalking. That's why you need an escort. I've lived here for a while and my brain has developed partial immunity-you can never be fully immune-and if any one of you starts to see things that aren't there I gotta keep you under control."
"Wow, that sounds kind of dangerous, why aren't we seeing things now?" Misty asked.
"Because you've only been here for about a half hour. We'll see how sensitive you are in an hour or two, but right now you're ok."
"Well!" Brock exclaimed, grasping Kakumei's hands, "I think that it's quite fascinating and in my dreams you would give me your phone number! How about making my dream come true and-ow! Ok, ok! I'll stop-ouch!" Misty had grabbed Brock's ear and was yanking him away.
Ash turned back to Kakumei, "It wouldn't be so bad to live in a dream world, but I'd rather become a pokemon master for real."
"No, no, no," she insisted, "Ya got it wrong kid. I'm not talking about your fantasies. For some reason, whatever-it-is is only showing you the bad stuff: nightmares, worst memories, greatest fears, stuff like that. It usually starts out with people reliving their worst memories, and it goes on from there, until they go crazy. That's why you need supervision. There's a treatment-I'm taking you to the infirmary now-that helps you process the hallucinations, but if it doesn't work I'll get you off the island right away. You have got to be careful, this island is literally your worst nightmare."
"Are you sure you're ok?" he asked her for the fiftieth time; James knew she wasn't and wouldn't admit it of course.
"I'm fine. for the last time James I'm ok." Jessie answered him. She wasn't really paying attention. She was staring every which way-as if she thought they were being followed.
"Well then, what are you looking for?" he asked. He looked down and saw that Meowth was looking around too. They would walk for a minute or two, and then he and Jessie would stop and ask James if he had heard anything. He hadn't.
"James have you ever had the feeling you're chasing shadows?" Jessie inquired of him.
"Huh?" he asked, not really seeing her point.
"It's just ya thinks you hear somethin' or see somethin' but when you turns around dere ain't nothin dere," Meowth informed him, and Jesse nodded in confirmation.
James looked around. There was certainly nothing out of the ordinary that he could see. There were trees, the ocean could be seen behind them, there was that mountain in the distance, and not too far away was the small settlement for the scientist and other people who worked on this island. It wasn't the most residential place. The only thing out of the ordinary was the fact that he had seen no wild pokemon at all. But that wasn't the point. After they robbed the research center they would either make a quick getaway or get blasted off. He just wanted to get off this island.
He wanted his friends back to normal. They hadn't started out like this, but it had come gradually since they had arrived and he didn't like it. James wanted them back to their usual selves-even if Jessie and Meowth could be mean like that-he liked his best friends just the way they were.
Especially Jessie. He had grown to love her strong and confident attitude; in fact, he had come to rely on it. Whenever he wasn't feeling good about something, Jessie-and sometimes Meowth-wouldn't let him wreck their spirits. No matter how many times they failed, Jessie's strength seemed to assure him that someday they would be happy. All people deserve to be happy don't they? And he was happy with Jessie. His Jessie. His strong, confident Jessie. Not this paranoid person, acting like a child afraid of a monster in the closet.
He wanted to find whatever had changed her mood and thrash it into next week for messing with her. He wanted to hug her and make her feel better, until she was once again the happy girl he'd come to love.
'All she needs is a good rest' he kept repeating to himself over and over in his mind, 'the cat too,' James thought. "I think we should set up camp, and attack the place tomorrow," he said.
The other two just nodded and they plopped their stuff down on the ground, still distracted by these unseen things.
James stared at her. It had taken forever for her to fall asleep, poor Jessie, she usually slept like a log. She was obviously having a nightmare. Jessie often had bad nightmares, and would wake up screaming and gasping for air, waking him and Meowth up. Whenever she was having a nightmare, and James was awake he would usually wake her up before the dream got worse. She would hit him if he interrupted a good sleep, but she was always relieved to be woken from a bad dream. He would have woken her up now too, however her paranoia had gotten far worse, and he wasn't sure if it was better to just let her sleep.
Meowth was having a nightmare too, and he hadn't acted any better than Jessie had before going to sleep.
James looked at his sleeping partner. The island was humid, but she was curled up in her sleeping bag, as if it would shield her from something. He wanted to hold her, and make her feel safe. He wanted to protect her from those shadows of her dreams. But even thought she was right there, the Jessie he loved seemed far away. James knew he would do anything to her back.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
"What's going on?" Ash demanded. He saw Misty sitting up straight in bed, panting and sweating, and grabbing the sheets with clenched fists. "Misty, are you alright?"
"Yeah...I-I'm fine, just a bad dream," Misty said shakily. 'It was just a nightmare,' she thought, 'everyone has nightmares; it's nothing to do with this island. I had that medicine earlier today, and I haven't been seeing things. It was just a bad dream...' somehow though, she really didn't believe that.
"Sleep well?" Kakumei inquired of them when they arrived in the dining room of her house/research center.
Ash was already inhaling his breakfast, "Yeah I slept ok, had a bad dream though."
Brock nodded, "Me too,"
Misty was glad but also worried that she hadn't been the only one, "I had a really bad nightmare," she said shyly.
Kakumei only seemed half interested, downing her plain white rice like there was no tomorrow. "That's normal," she said with her mouth full, "like I said, no one can be completely immune to the neurological affects of this place. It's if you start hearing or seeing things when you know you've got hyper-sensitivity to it."
"It was someone screaming! I'm telling you I heard it!" Jessie yelled, facing off with Meowth.
"It wadn't screamin'! It was a Pokemon roarin or attackin or somethin'. Meowth knows what he heard!" Meowth yelled back at her.
James wasn't sure how to react; he hadn't heard a thing. Well, he had thought he had heard something, but he had dismissed it. It had been like the far off sound of whip cracking, but he ignored it. He had his friends to worry about.
Misty wanted to leave; she wanted to leave right now. They were walking off to Dr. Kakumei's research center for a tour, but all these bug type pokemon along the path were really scaring her. She thought about asking if they could take a different route but then Ash asked, "Why haven't we seen any wild Pokemon here?"
"There aren't any wild ones on the whole island. If they were ever here, they're long gone." Kakumei replied. "I do my research with the pokemon I caught, or that have been brought to the island."
Misty froze. She looked around; there were weedle, metapod, and all sorts of bug types everywhere. Didn't they see them? No. She was the only one who saw these things. The island was showing her her fears.
"Dr. Kakumei, I think I'd better lea--" she was cut off by the sound of someone screaming not too far away.
"Someone's in trouble!" Ash shouted, running towards the sound.
"Don't worry Kakumei! I'll protect you!" Brock called, but she had leapt off at a dead run. She had passed up Ash and disappeared into the undergrowth-that girl was fast! The rest of the party followed behind.
"I thought you were dead!!!!" Jessie shouted at the thin air. James had decided that people shouldn't loose their minds this fast-something was up. Meanwhile Meowth was pouncing and scratching at an invisible enemy. He didn't know what to do.
"Jessie there's nothing there!" he shouted. She didn't hear.
"Does Giovanni know you're still alive? I'll bet that you're still running the company-that you're just giving the 'boss' instructions" she continued.
"What's going on here?" a voice demanded. James looked over to see a short brunette with hazel eyes and wearing an open lab coat over her black pants and red shirt.
She stared at him intently but he soon lost her interest as she looked from Jessie to Meowth, and back to Jessie, then back to him. "You know THAT's the reason you're required to have a supervisor on this island."
"You mean the island is doing this to them?" James demanded.
She nodded. Suddenly there were three familiar figures on the scene. Two of them yelled, "It's Team Rocket!" The other one screamed,
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! A SCYTHER!!!! GET IT AWAY! HELP! HELP!"
The girl in the lab coat, as well as the two male twerps turned to stare at her,
"Oh no, you too?" the girl asked Misty, who was backed against a tree screaming. "Alright," the girl continued, "Anyone who isn't seeing stuff hold your breath!" she ordered, and threw a pokeball. James, Ash, and Brock held their breath as the Butterfree that appeared spread it's sleep powder, and Misty and Jessie fell to the ground.
They were both on hospital beds. Often one would give a yell in her sleep, and they both tossed and turned restlessly. Kakumei monitored them from a computer console in the corner of the small room of the island's pathetic excuse for an infirmary.
"So when will they wake up?" Ash asked, staring at sleeping-Misty.
Kakumei didn't look up from her quick typing, "They wont. Even if they wake up physically, they'll still believe that they are where the hallucinations take them. It will be like they're sleep walking."
Ash didn't move. From beside Jessie's bed, James asked, "So how do we stop this? Can we wake them up? I mean really wake them?" there was a definite tone of worry in his voice. Jessie moaned again and James stroked her hair while Meowth pulled the covers tightly over her.
"Well they usually turn back to normal when you get them far enough away from the island. I can't seem to figure out why the neural suppresser didn't work, so we'd better get them outta her--" she was cut off by Jessie, who screamed, jolted up and opened her eyes.
"Jessie!" James and Meowth exclaimed happily. But then they remembered what Kakumei had just said.
"Where am I?" Jessie demanded. Her voice was small, like a child's, and her blue eyes were fogged and didn't seem to see. "Where's Momma?" she turned to James, "Where's my mother?" she demanded again, on the verge of tears.
James didn't know what to tell her. Jessie almost never spoke about her past. He had no idea where to find her mother-what could he tell Jessie? "It's best," Kakumei said from her respective corner, "To play along. If she gets too riled up, it could be hazardous to her health." James considered this. He didn't want Jessie to be hurt.
Her eyes, though fogged, were wild and childlike. And she stared up at him with those eyes full of tears, "They say she's dead, don't you say it too! She's not dead! She's lost! If you go and find her... you got to find her! She's not dead, you'll see! Please just go and get her..." Jessie was growing exhausted and finally plopped down on her pillow, "Where's momma?" she started again.
James sighed; he couldn't lie to her, "I don't know."
"I need momma! Where is she?" she tried to sit up again but she was too weak.
A thought struck James, "How old are you?"
"Five." No wonder she wants her mother.
"I don't know where she is, but if I see her I'll tell her to come here, ok?" she stared at him for a bit.
"She's in the Andes. She wont answer any transmissions...but that's just cause she doesn't want to get fired...for taking so long to find Mew," she was drifting off to sleep again, "but...but...if you tell her...tell here that I need her...than she'll come home, I know she will...she will..." she was asleep.
Ash stared at James. He left the room without a word, and Meowth padded after him. For a few seconds the room was quiet until Kakumei spoke.
"I'll call for a truck. That'll get us two the harbor. I'll make sure a boat's ready to sail as soon as we arrive. A mile away from here should bring them back." She left the room as well.
Ash stared at Misty. She was tossing in her sleep, but she had been quieter than Jessie so far. But maybe Jessie was worse. Maybe Misty would act like that too...he shuddered, not wanting to think about the woman in the next bed who thought she was a child, nor did he want to think about the look on James's face as he left the room. Sad eyes...
"Pika-pi..." Pikachu said softly from his shoulder, but the pokemon could not offer it's usual comfort to it's worried trainer.
"You know what?" Brock had been so quiet, Ash had forgotten he was there and the voice startled him.
"What is it Brock?"
"I think," he looked at Misty, "That we've been taking some things for granted," he glanced at Jessie, then Misty again, and turned to leave, "And when I say we, I mean all of us," the door clicked softly behind him, and Ash was alone.
"So...this is an interestin' turn of events," Meowth said, trying to make conversation. James didn't seem to hear. For once he seemed to be deep in thought. "Look, Jimmy," he started off carefully; James didn't look up, but Meowth knew he had heard him that time, "Meowth knows your worried `bout her," James looked up, "But there aint nothin' we can do."
"That's just it!" Meowth jumped back. He hadn't expected James to yell. "There's nothing we could have done, and there's nothing we can do now. Nothing. She's always calling me useless, and she's right! I should have done something, but there's nothing I could have done and now she's in trouble and I can't help her." Meowth stared at James.
"Meowth know Jess didn't mean you was useless," the cat began. As he opened his mouth to speak again, the room seemed to get foggy. That was weird. Far off in the distance, but coming closer, was the sound of waves breaking against the beach. The fog around him intensified, and James was getting harder and harder to see. Meowth couldn't think straight. All he could hear was a voice far off,
"You are alone. Come to me and you will suffer no more...come...you will never be alone again...come..."
Meowth shook his head violently. He knew he couldn't hold on to his thoughts for very much longer. "JAMES!" He yelled. He couldn't see his friend, but what was left of his conciseness told him that James was still there, "You aint useless, and you're gonna have to prove it...."
"Meowth? Meowth!" No use. The cat couldn't hear him. James felt guilty, that in his worry about Jessie he had forgotten that Meowth had been seeing things as well.
"Meeeooow!, Meow Morrow." Meowth whined desperately from the floor. He didn't seem to see anything. The cat walked a few paces to the left, then to the right, before settling on a path to the door.
"Meowth, you too..." James murmured. Meowth, of course, didn't hear. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?" James yelled; he could hear the desperation in his own voice. "How could you leave me alone?" and then he heard two things.
One was the cracking noise. It was closer than last time. The other was what Meowth had said, "you're gonna have to prove it..." Meowth's right. Although the words "Meowth" and "right" didn't seem to belong in the same sentence, it was true. His friends needed him now, and he wouldn't let them down.
James ran out the door, and picked up Meowth who had been slowly making his way down the hall. He took the pokemon back to the patient's room. Ash was dozing in a chair by Misty's bed with Pikachu in his lap. Misty was asleep, but panting and sweating hard. She had thrown off the covers in her sleep, as appose to Jessie who was violently shaking under the covers.
James saw the Buterfree perched on an IV pole, and motioned for it to use sleep powder on Meowth. After the pokemon was asleep, James gently lifted the covers of Jessie's bed a little, so her head could be seen.
"Did you find Momma?" she asked softly. Her scared voice made James' heart break. He had thought she was asleep.
"No, I'm sorry. I'll keep looking." He told her.
Her foggy eyes seemed to glaze over, "She's dead isn't she?" she asked matter-o-factly.
"I don't kno--"
"She's dead. She's dead! She was right. I am alone. I'm alone..." she was starting to fall back asleep, though tears spilled down her cheeks. He hated to see her like this.
"You're not alone. I'm here."
"Who are you?" Even though she thought she was five, that question still hurt him to hear.
"My name is James. I'm a friend."
"James..." she repeated. For a moment, it looked like she was asleep, but those foggy eyes opened again to stare into his own eyes. "But...you're going away aren't you?"
"Only for a little bit, then I'll be right back here. In the meantime," he placed the sleeping Meowth in her lap, "Meowth will stay with you." He really didn't want to leave her, but he needed some questions answered.
Jessie's tired eyes looked at Meowth and then back at him, "Alright. Meowth can stay..." now she was really asleep.
Kakumei tapped the computer console restlessly. What am I going to tell them? She heard a click and James walked in.
"I want to know the whole story." He demanded. One eyebrow raised, Kakumei knew she was going to regret asking this, but there was no use beating around the bush, "Is that all you want to know?"
"Well I'd actually like to start with when are we getting off this haunted place?"
"I'd hardly call it haunted."
"Don't avoid the question."
With a long sigh and an agitated adjustment of her glasses, she told him, "Tomorrow, hopefully."
"Tomorrow! Is that the best you can do? She co- they could get permanent damage after that long."
"Can't be avoided. Have you looked out a window recently?" she saw him glance at the window to their right, and then gasp, disbelieving.
First of all, it was raining. Hard. Then there was the wind. If blew ferociously, sending tsunamis that were just small enough not to come crashing over the high cliffs.
"Were trapped on this island for now. A boat can't go out there, and neither can your balloon," she paused to look out the window with an expression that made her young, childish face look very aged, "Do you want to know something? This happens every time."
"What do you mean?" She glanced at the young man standing in front of her. He wore the face of a parent whose child had fallen to the hallucinations. She had seen that many times before. James was very protective of that red-haired woman.
"OK. You want to know the whole truth? Call in the others."
James and Ash walked down the hallway trying to find Brock. Neither had spoken a word to each other since James' "Kakumei wants to talk to all of us at once, twerp." Ash held Pikachu protectively, though James didn't seem in the mood to pull any tricks right now. Ash didn't care though; he was too scared of loosing any more important friends-human and pokemon alike.
"Brock! Brock, where are you?"
"Come on twerp, this is important!"
"Pikaaaaaa! Pikachu! Pika!"
Finally they heard an answer. Well it wasn't really an answer. It was a low, but familiar moan. After turning into a darkened hallway of the medical complex, they found Brock.
He was huddled in a corner, mumbling to himself. He hugged his knees, and rocked back and fourth. It was impossible to tell whether his eyes were open or closed.
"I'm alone. I'll never get a girlfriend. I'm gonna die alone and unloved. She was right. I'm alone. No girl will ever care about me..." he mumbled, over and over and over.
"Snap out of it Brock!" Ash yelled, snapping his fingers in front of the teen's face. He looked up at Ash, stared for a second, and then...
"Oh Nurse Joy!" he cried with pleasure, grabbing Ash's hands, "I didn't know there was a pokemon center here! Might I say that you are the most beautiful Joy I have seen, and I have been almost everywhere!"
"Dwwwaaaaahhhhh!!!!" Ash screamed and tried to back away. "BROCK!!! I'm NOT Nurse Joy! Don't you recognize me?"
"No, he doesn't," James managed to get out through breaks in hysterical laughter. Pikachu too, was chuckling and not hiding it very well.
"Well what do I do?" Brock was now making dinner plans with the hallucinatory Joy.
"Well...why don't you use sleep powder of something. Bulbasor or Chickorita--" James and Pikachu exploded in another fit of laughter at the thought of Chickorita and Brock getting into a cat fight over Ash.
"Well my I can't reach my poke balls!"
"Then have fun on your date. I always thought you two looked cute together."
"WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING?!?!?!?!?"
"Oh relax twerp. It's just a joke-but not to Mr. Hormones over there of course. Now let's see..." he pulled out a Poke ball. "Victorebell, GO!" The pokemon popped out of its ball and clamped onto James' head. "Ow, stop lemme go, lemme go!!!"
Ash, who was getting more and more scared every moment due to Brock's sweet talk, decided that even though it was funny-now was not the time to let Victorebell have lunch. "Pikachu, give it enough of a shock to get it's attention. No blasting off today."
"Pika-Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!" Pikachu's shock attack got the plant pokemon angry enough to let go of it's master and go after pikachu.
"Ok Twerps, hold your breath," James ordered, "Victorebell, sleep powder!"
When that wonderful little excursion was finished...
"OK!" Kakumei slapped a chalkboard (that had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere) with a pointer, "That's three down-four if ya include the pokemon-and two humans and a rat to go."
James narrowed his eyes, "You could at least have tried to make that more inspirational."
"Now don't get krabby just cause your girlfriends' are having a lil bit of trouble."
She said.
Both Ash and James jumped up at once and shouted in a non convincing tone of obviously fake-disgust, "She's not my girlfriend!"
Kakumei waved a hand in front of her face, "Yeah, yeah anyway, here's the basic background of your current situation." Pushing a few stray hairs out of her face, she began.
"This weather is not coincidental. Every time someone on this island starts 'sleep walking' a tropical storm hits here. I believe that this is a way to keep the hallucinating people on the island. I don't believe this is a natural phenomenon either. I think someone is trying to make people believe that they are in some kind of nightmare world."
James jumped up, "That's right! Now I remember, both Jessie and the twerps said something like, 'she was right. I'm alone' but who is she?"
Kakumei raised an eyebrow, "I see. Well than it stands to reason that whoever-she-is is making everyone sick."
"Well how do we stop her?" Ash demanded. Pikachu was on the floor, channeling thunder to its cheeks as a show of strength.
"Well...by past data...everyone who starts hallucinating seems to be drawn towards the mountain at the center of the island. They sleep for a day or so, and then they start sleepwalking-heading for the mountain. However the storm has usually died down by then and we almost always get them out in time."
"Almost?" James asked, not liking the sound on that word.
"I'm afraid so. The others...we couldn't keep track of them. We haven't seen them-about ten in all since I've been here. "
Ash couldn't stand still, "So how are we gonna stop this?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I usually don't tell this to many people, however you are a special case." She said, her voice turning grave.
James wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he had to know. For Jessie. "Why are we a special case?"
"Whoever-she-is seems to have taken an extreme interest in," she took a deep breath, "Jessica." She winced as she saw James' eyes bulge with anger and fear, as he jumped up.
"What do you mean? Is she in danger? TELL ME!" he yelled in her face as she tried her best to keep her composure.
"I can't answer that because I don't know. What I do know is that the neurological field surrounding her, is much stronger than average. She is in danger of being completely and permanently drawn into the hallucinatory world."
Too shocked to speak, James sank back into his chair. Ash fidgeted, "And Misty?"
"Well the longer any of them are here, the more dangerous it will be." Kakumei said solemnly.
"So..." James asked, finding his voice, "What can we do?"
"Ah, action! Now you're talkin'!" she exclaimed. Lightening a bit, "Well obviously your pals are gonna want to go to the mountain. If we can put a tracker on one of them, we could find the person who's controlling them, and put a stop to it!" She slammed her hand on the desk dramatically.
Ash beamed. His optimism was returning, "So who will we track?"
"Well Jessica seems to be the one this person wants most, so if we tracked her we'd have a better chance of success."
James opened his mouth to process but he was cut off. "It's our best chance-maybe our only hope of stopping this." She seemed to want his permission.
Ash was already walking confidently out the office door. James turned around to look the doctor in the eye, "If anything should happen to her..."
She didn't give him any faulty reassurance, "I know." She said softly, and walked towards the room where the girls slept.
Well folks! That's part one! Did you like it? Hate it? I know it was too long ^_^;; sorry. Please read and review. I appreciate any opinions-but if you flame me at least have some constructive criticism. The Conclusion is coming very soon.
~Jadesfire2