"Brrrrrrriiiiiiiiiii!" Togepi exclaimed, beginning to glow. "Chuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu acted in self-defense, using a Thunder attack just as Togepi launched its Hyper Beam. Misty and Ash watched in amazement as the two attacks met in mid-air, creating a gigantic explosion that sucked them into something that looked rather like a black hole.
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"Raven!" The teenage girl turned away from the mirror, hearing her name.
"Yeah?"
"Becki's here!" "Okay, I'll be right down!" Giving one last swipe to her reddish-brown hair, Raven put the brush down, grabbed her backpack, and rushed down the stairs.
"Hey, Raven," Becki greeted her. "Hi!" Raven said cheerfully. "We'll just walk home after school," she told her mother.
"All right," Raven's mom said absent-mindedly. "I'll be back home around five."
"Bye," Raven said as they walked out the door. The two of them quickly began chatting.
"Did you see last Saturday's episode of Pokemon?" Becki asked Raven.
"No, I was over at Christina's. Was it good?" Just then, they heard a crash coming from the nearby woods.
"What was that??"
"I don't know. Let's go check it out." The two girls walked into the forest. Two kids around their ages were lying on the ground. One was a boy with black hair, and the other was a redheaded girl. "Oh, crud," Raven said softly, slightly worried. "I wish I had listened to Mrs. Marquis last year when she talked about first aid."
"What should we do?" Becki asked no one in particular. Just then, the boy started stirring.
"Where am I?" he asked in a raspy voice. "What happened, and where's Pikachu?" Becki and Raven looked at each other.
"Is he crazy?" Raven whispered to Becki.
"I dunno," she replied. "He seems...familiar." Becki glanced at him again. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Ash. Ash Ketchum."
"Maybe he hit his head or something," Raven whispered.
"I don't know. He does look sorta like Ash."
"In that case, she must be Misty," Raven said, pointing to the still-unconscious girl.
"How'd you know?" Ash asked suspiciously. "Do you work for Team Rocket?"
"Jeez, he is as stupid in real life," Becki whispered.
"WHAT'D YOU DO WITH MY PIKACHU!?!?" Ash yelled. Just then, a familiar yellow form scampered up to him.
"Chu, pikapi!"
"Pikachu!" Ash yelled. Becki turned her attention to Misty, who was just waking up. "Where am I?" Misty asked drowsily. "Ash?"
"Don't ask me," he replied. Raven decided it was time to say something. "You're in Waterloo, Illinois," she offered helpfully.
"Where in the world is that??" Ash said, just slightly confused.
Raven found it hard to explain, so she glanced at Becki, hoping she would take over.
"Well, see, you aren't exactly at home anymore. Somehow, you got transported to our world," Becki explained awkwardly. "How do we get back?" Ash asked. "I have to train for my next gym battle."
"Well," Raven said, "we're not quite sure. I guess you'll just have to go to school with us."
"Okay," Misty said, short on words. "And one other thing," Becki added. "See, here Pokemon is just a dumb kid's thing to most people. Not us, but most of the people at our school. So, whatever you do, don't mention Pokemon to anybody."
"WHAT??!!" Ash was slightly ticked off.
"I guess your Pokemon will have to hide in the woods all day or something," Raven suggested. "Or at least Pikachu and Togepi, since they can't be in Pokeballs."
"I'll leave my other Pokemon here to keep Pikachu and Togepi company," Misty said, releasing her Pokemon and stashing the Pokeballs in her backpack. Ash did the same with his. Meanwhile, Raven and Becki discussed how to get them into their classes.
"Well, I can forge a note from my mom saying Misty's my cousin, and she needs to stay with me for today," Raven said.
"What about me?" Becki asked. "Uhhh...A few minutes after I go in the office and show them my note, you can just go in and tell them that Ash is your cousin, and he needs to hang around with you," she offered, already digging a pen and paper out of her backpack. Becki went over to where Ash and Misty were standing, to tell them what was going on. "Okay, Misty, you'll go with Raven, and Ash will stay with me all day," Becki explained. "And, Ash, could you just take off your jacket and hat? They aren't allowed in school." Raven grabbed a shirt out of her backpack and tossed it to Misty.
"Speaking of what isn't allowed, that outfit definitely isn't. So, you can go behind a tree or something and change into that shirt." Having taken care of their fashion dilemmas, the quartet headed on toward school. When they reached the squat brick building, Raven and Misty headed in to the office.
"Mrs. Gardner?" The short, blond Dean of Students looked up. "Oh, hi, Raven," she said absent-mindedly . "This is my cousin, Misty Kasumi. She's supposed to stay with me today. My mom wrote a note." Raven handed Mrs. Gardner the forged note, which she hardly glanced at.
"Okay, just give this to your teachers," she said, scribbling a note and handing it to Raven. The two headed out of the office, giving a thumbs-up to Becki and Ash, who were standing outside the building, and headed out to the blacktop.
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Five minutes later, Becki and Ash went into the office. This time, the secretary was in there. "Hi, Mrs. Kramer," Becki greeted the secretary. "This is my cousin Ash; is it okay if he comes to class with me today? My mom would've called, but he just got here, and things have been really hectic."
"Sure," she replied, writing a pass for Becki and handing it to her. "Just tell your teachers that it's okay." Becki and Ash walked out of the office and down towards the band room, where they intercepted Raven and Misty. "Mission accomplished," Becki told Raven.
"Great, now what do we do about lunch? I have no money and my lunch is barely big enough for me."
"I guess we'll have to share," Becki said, out of ideas momentarily.
"Okay. Have fun!" Raven said, grinning at Becki.