Chapter 4: Dreams and Disasters
May stretched, muttering something under her breath. It had been a few hours since she and her friends had stumbled upon Tails' workshop, and dusk was slowly waning into night. Everyone had settled down after Brock served dinner: delicious as always, especially to Sonic and Tails. After that, Brock decided they should set up camp. While the boys worked on that, she stood to the side, fidgeting in boredom.
With a sigh, she stood up and walked into Tails' workshop, as the two-tailed fox was occupied with setting up the tent at the moment. What she found in there was mostly foreign to her, though she had no clue how. Eventually, her eyes came to rest on the small, egg-like stone that Tails and Sonic were studying earlier before Eggman interrupted. The red "yolk" was still glowing, albeit faintly. Curious, she picked it up carefully, not noticing her heart beating slightly faster.
"Hey! Put that down!"
May gasped on hearing the voice and hastily replaced the stone, turning to see Tails standing in the doorway. He didn't look too pleased. "I'm sorry, I was only looking, I swear! Nothing was harmed –"
"It's fine, don't worry," Tails shrugged. "It's just that this egg is fragile. I don't want to see it break."
May looked perplexed. "Wait...are you saying that it really is an egg?"
"Yes, it is. I'm not sure what's inside, but I know it's native to this world."
"A Pokemon?"
"Sonic brought it to me to study; oddly enough, the yolk glowed and switched our bodies around."
"That's strange."
"Yeah. But that's beside the point. Right now, I'm keeping this safe for research...until it hatches, that is. Hm...I still need to figure out where Sonic got that from."
She opened her eyes, confused. The sun was low in the sky as she glanced around. A temple stood before her, ominously towering. Caution told her to hang back, but a strange force moved her forward. She walked into the temple and saw a number of tiny creatures playing around a glowing green emerald. One of them jumped onto her shoulder and chirped happily as though asking her to join the fun. Grinning a childlike grin, she obliged and danced around with them.
"Who are you?"
She stopped on hearing the voice, turning towards a humanoid creature who stood with the little creatures. "Who are you?"
She wanted to speak, but her mouth stayed silent. The creature was carrying another small creature, slightly bigger than the others yet still resembling them. The small creature jumped into her arms, giggling. She couldn't help but smile.
The creature before her gasped. "You," she breathed, "you must be…"
"Huh?"
The creature suddenly stepped forward, holding her hands and gazing intently into her eyes. "Take care of him. He's the only one who can stop the chaos."
"Wait," she started, "what are you talking about?"
A sudden explosion rocked the temple, causing her to duck as a deafening roar shook the room. The creature just shook her head and ran, the adorable creatures following her. "Wait!" she called after her. "Stop!"
"Don't go!"
Silence. She blinked.
"Huh?"
More silence. She glanced around, puzzled.
"Er…"
"May?"
She glanced up at her brother as he looked at her, concern lining his eyes. "What's wrong?"
She exhaled, slightly relieved but slightly torn. "Nothing, Max...it was just a dream." So why did it feel so...real?
May sat by the small oasis, her heart in a small turmoil. The dream she had the night before was troubling her as she racked her brains to figure out what it meant. It felt so real...how could it not mean something?
"Hey, May."
She glanced up and saw her best friend standing over her. "Oh, hey Ash! What's up?"
"Eh, not much," he shrugged, sitting down next to her. "I was just bored."
"Bored?" she looked at him, perplexed. "Why aren't you training?"
"Well, Brock's busy making lunch, and you're over here by yourself. I prefer to train with other people."
"Oh," May rolled her eyes. "You want me to train with you, don't you."
"Nah. I figured you wouldn't be up for it. It's hard to focus on training when there's something else weighing on your mind."
May's looked at him, surprised. "What are you talking about? I'm just fine." He just continued to look at her, gaze unwavering. "Really. What makes you think I'm having a hard time?"
"Oh, I don't know," he shrugged sarcastically. "Maybe it's the simple fact that we actually had LEFTOVERS from breakfast?!"
"Pfft. Not my fault. I ate my fair share."
"If that were the case, we'd have nothing left, because I ate my fair share, too. Max even commented on how fast an eater I was. For crying out loud, I had Pikachu lick the syrup off my plate when I was done! Yet we have leftovers, which means someone isn't eating their fair share! And did I mention that your plate was the only one with food that we stuffed away for –"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" she snapped, irritated that he figured her out. "I didn't eat much this morning. I just wasn't hungry, that's all."
"You're always hungry."
"You wanna make something of it?!" she shouted, now thoroughly angry. Ash backed away, shocked by her sudden outburst. She gasped, realizing what she just did. "Ash, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell like that. It's just…"
He slowly moved back towards her. "What?"
She sighed. "You're right. I am having a hard time right now. I just wish sometimes that you couldn't read me like that."
"I'm sorry," he shrugged. "I probably shouldn't have been prying like that."
"No, it's okay," she assured him. "You were just trying to be a good friend."
He smiled warmly at her. "So, what's up?"
She sighed. "I had a dream last night, and I don't know what it means."
Ash chuckled. "That's all? Just a dream? I have dreams all the time."
"See, that's the thing," she went on. "I have dreams all the time, too. Usually, I wake up and shrug it off for the most part, though it might stick with me for a little while. But this...this is different. I've never had a dream that felt so...real."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "You sure this won't go away in the next few days or so? That's how long it usually takes for a dream to lose its effect on me."
"Same here," she nodded. "But yes, I'm sure there's something more to this dream than meets the eye."
"Guys!"
They started, shooting up at the sound of the voice. "What is it?"
"The egg!" Tails exclaimed. "It's gone!"
"What?!" May exclaimed. "What happened?"
"I don't know. Someone must have sneaked in last night and stolen it!"
The three of them quickly rushed back to the camp and saw Sonic standing there, also distraught. "What's going on, Sonic?" Ash asked.
"Eggman doesn't have it!"
"He doesn't?!" Tails exclaimed. "But who else would want it?"
"Looking for this, you twerps?"
Ash flinched on hearing that, gritting his teeth. "There's only three people I know who call me that," he growled, looking up.
"We should've known," May ground her teeth.
"Prepare for trouble from the skies!"
"From beyond the stars a nasty surprise!"
"An evil as old as the galaxy..."
"Sent here to fulfill our destiny."
"Plus dere's me!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!"
"And James!"
"And Meowth are da' names!"
"Anywhere there's peace in the universe."
"Team Rocket..."
"...Will be dere..."
"To make everything worse!"
"Wooobbuffet!"
"Chime Chiiiime!"
"It's Team Rocket!"
"Oh, THERE'S a big surprise!" Meowth sneered from above. "I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and DIE from that surprise! Ha! You twerps shoulda made a better security system if ya wanted ta keep your treasure safe."
"Now we'll just take for ourselves, thank you very much," Jessie smirked.
"You put that down!" Tails snapped. "Don't you know what it is?! It's an egg! There's a living creature in there, and if you're not careful, you could kill it!"
"Tsk, tsk," Jessie wagged her finger at Tails. "There's always a price to pay for promotion."
"But is that a price we're willing to pay?" James glanced at her uncertainly.
"Of course it is, you dingbat! Now hurry up and drive this balloon out of here!"
"You're not going anywhere," Ash growled. "Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!"
"Piiiiiiikaaaaa...CHUUUUUUUUUUU!"
"Wobbuffet! Use Mirror Coat!"
Jessie's blue Pokemon leapt out of its Pokeball and obliged, sending the Thunderbolt attack straight back at Pikachu, knocking him into the ground.
"No!" Ash cried. "Pikachu…"
"Pika," Pikachu groaned weakly.
"Sorry, buddy."
"Okay, that does it!" Sonic growled. "You crooks won't get away with this!" With that, he leapt up.
"Sonic!?" everyone cried, stunned.
The blue blur landed in the balloon and grabbed for the egg, only to get thrown out. "Whoaaaaaaaa!" he cried.
Tails, thinking quickly, dashed under him and swiped his tails, sending him back into the sky. Sonic quietly thanked him and curled into a spinning ball of death that rammed into the trio, knocking the egg out of their grasp. Tails flew up and caught it while Sonic finished the job by rolling into the balloon itself, popping it.
"Oh come on!" Jessie roared in annoyance. "That balloon was brand new, and top-notch quality!"
"Is this a price worth paying for promotion?" James asked.
"If it was, then we'd be running the organization!" Meowth snapped.
"Yeah, that's true," James shrugged.
"LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
Ding.
"Is it okay, Tails?" May asked worriedly as the two-tailed fox flew back down.
"Yep," he nodded. "Phew! That was close."
"No kidding," Sonic agreed, then started. "Wait...where did Baseball Head go?"
"Who?" May asked, puzzled.
"Your friend."
"Hm...I don't –" she was cut off when a scent caught her nose. "Food!" she exclaimed, dashing over in the direction of the scent. Sonic and Tails looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her.
