The Mirror-World Menace

CHAPTER 2

Once the electricity-induced paralysis had passed, Jaymz and Jecy immediately went to find Officer Jenny. She was running a very small police station in the mountains. Jenny listened to their story carefully and took the details down in her notepad

"I have to be honest with you two," Officer Jenny admitted. "There's very little chance we'll be able to recover your Meowth for you."

"Why not?!" cried Jecy. "Don't you believe that we really saw Red?"

Officer Jenny smiled sympathetically. "I do believe you," she said. "There have been reports that Red has been spotted in this area. And believe me, I would love to be able to get him. He's the most wanted criminal in all of Kanto. But the truth is that there's very little chance that we would be able to stop him. Red's Pokémon are too formidable opponents, and the police force has never been able to capture him. I wish I could give you more hopeful news."

Jecy and Jaymz dejectedly thanked Officer Jenny as they left the police station, and, with little hope of finding their friend, they set up camp for the night as they tried to decide what to do next. They stared gloomily at their campfire as it cast long, flicking shadows over the walls of the mountain pass.

"Maybe we should just go back home," Jaymz suggested, warming his hands in front of the fire. It was nearing autumn, and the mountains were already quite chilly at night.

"Go back? How can we?" Jecy responded in frustration. "Every time I close my eyes, I keep seeing Meowth, carried off by that monster, while we just sat there unable to move! How can we abandon him like this?"

"But what can we do?" asked Jaymz helplessly, green eyes blinking. "Even if we could find Red again, what hope do we have of getting Meowth back? He defeated us so easily."

"I know." Jecy was as despondent as her companion. "I just wish there was someone out there who could help us."

"Help us?" Jaymz replied. "I don't think anyone can. Not even Officer Jenny can, apparently. You saw how powerful Red's Pokémon are. Who in this whole universe would be crazy enough to challenge him?"

*

"You're crazy, Ash Ketchum!"

"I am not!!" Ash shot back, shivering between spluttering coughs. He was clutching a Staryu tightly to his chest as water dripped from his drenched clothing onto the warm grass.

"You could have got yourself killed!!" Misty was practically yelling as she glared furiously at the boy, her turquoise eyes flashing angrily. She could have quite a temper sometimes.

Pikachu nodded his head and shouted accusingly, "Pi - ka!" in agreement with Misty.

"Admit it, Ash," Brock said, "jumping into a river to try to capture a submerged Pokémon is not a good idea."

"But it was a wild Dragonair," Ash protested. "How often do you see one of those?"

"That's not a good reason to go diving into water without any idea how strong the current is!" Misty rebuked.

"Especially considering that you didn't even catch the Dragonair," Brock observed, much to Ash's annoyance.

"You would have drowned if I hadn't sent Staryu to save you!" Misty pulled a pokéball out of her pocket and pointed it at her Pokémon. The metal ball looked dazzlingly bright as it reflected the mid-morning sun. "Staryu, return!" Misty called. Her Staryu safely recalled, she walked away furiously without another word. Togepi, oblivious as always, chirped merrily as it followed her. Ash decided against pursuing the argument any further.

Ash relaxed. It was a hot day, and he was already starting to dry off. "Any sign of my empty pokéball?" he asked Brock.

Brock shook his head. "You probably let go of it while you were busy drowning," he replied.

Ash sighed. That had been his last free pokéball, now wasted without a capture. They probably wouldn't have a chance to get any more for at least a week. That meant he would miss out on any other potential captures between now and then. This was definitely going to be one of those days.

*

There are celestial-type Pokémon who traverse the alternate realities as easily as you or I would tread from one stepping-stone in a stream to another. They have no names, not as humans would understand them, for no human has ever seen one nor heard one speak. They delight in traveling from one world to another, observing with wonder the myriad variations in reality and endless possibilities of existence.

One of these celestial Pokémon was flitting between two alternate worlds. It marveled at the similarities between them. They contained identical Pokémon species, and there were similar people and places in each of them. It appeared that there was only the slightest divergence between them, resulting in people and Pokémon being put in different roles and situations.

The Pokémon started off on its way to other parts of the cosmos when it accidentally passed too close to the barrier between worlds. Unable to correct its trajectory in time, it brushed against the barrier, creating a tiny rift between the two realities. The rift was like a tunnel, connecting a location in one universe to a place in the other.

The Pokémon paused. It was the belief of his species that such rifts were no accident, but a kind of providence, bringing good fortune to the inhabitants of the worlds connected. It waited patiently to see what would result from the presence of the rift it had created.

*

Misty was still fuming as she walked.

She'd had it with him. As long as she had known him, Ash seemed to have made a habit of performing one impetuous act after another, risking his life over and over without considering the consequences. And she was tired of worrying about him.

"Why can't he think things over before he rushes into them?" she asked Togepi, more out of frustration than in expectation of a response.

"To - ge - to - ge - brrrrrrrriiiii!" the egg Pokémon responded happily.

She sat in the warm grass and started to pet her little Pokémon when something bright caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She looked up at it.

It was a shimmering light, suspended mysteriously in the middle of the air. As she stared at it, it seemed to change and grow, opening up like a hole in the middle of the air above her head.

She glanced back at the river where her friends were. Ash and Brock were only about forty yards away. She looked back at the hole. In just a few seconds, it had already grown to about a foot across. Misty decided to go tell the others about this. She grabbed Togepi and hurried back to them.

Ash was busy wringing out his socks when Misty returned. He wasn't expecting to see her back so soon after their argument, and looked up at her quizzically.

Immediately he noticed the perplexed expression on her face. "What's wrong, Misty?" he started to ask.

"Guys," she said, "what's that over there?"

They looked, and their eyes opened wide.

Now about twenty feet across, the hole hung vertically, suspended mysteriously a few feet off the ground. Through it, they could see cragged, rocky terrain, the kind one would expect see in the mountains. A second sun, just starting to rise over the mountain horizon, shone its light through the hole and into their eyes. The barren landscape seen through the hole contrasted sharply with the warm grassy fields surrounding them all.

Two human figures were on the rocky landscape. One, a woman, had green earrings and long red hair that curved strangely behind her back, while the other, a man, had green eyes and hair with an oddly bluish tint. Even though they were dressed normally and not in Team Rocket uniforms, Ash recognized them at once. They were obviously Jessie and James.

Jecy and Jaymz had been packing up to break camp when the hole appeared before them. Through it, they could see a grassy field with three people. The one closest to them was a boy with a black shirt and blue jeans. A sopping wet, faded red and white cap sat on the ground nearby on top of a blue and white jacket, while a Pikachu reclined in the grass next to him. They knew immediately who it was. Red, again! thought Jecy. How could we run into him again so soon?

Ash, Misty, and Brock pointed through the hole at Jecy and Jaymz, while simultaneously Jecy and Jaymz pointed at Ash.

"TEAM ROCKET!!" everyone shouted accusingly at once.

"Look," said Jecy, trying hard to ignore the frantic beating of her heart, "you already took our Meowth from us. You already said we had nothing else you wanted, so please just leave us alone!"

Ash, Misty, and Brock looked at each other with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Us, take Meowth?" Ash asked Brock in bewilderment. "What are they talking about? Is this some kind of trick?"

Brock shrugged his shoulders; he had no idea.

Ash turned back to the pair on the other side of the hole. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but you're not getting Pikachu!"

"Get him?!" Jaymz exclaimed. "Why, we want nothing to do with him! If I never receive a shock like that again it'll be too soon!"

"Something's not adding up here," Brock observed to his two companions. "Team Rocket would never act like this. They always say the Team Rocket motto, and they've never been afraid to try to get Pikachu. Besides, I've never seen them dressed in something so conservative and modest."

Ash and Misty had to agree. As far as they had seen, Jessie and James got out of their Team Rocket uniforms only to wear something even more outrageous and, in the case of James, usually involving cross-dressing.

"That's true," Ash admitted. "Maybe they're not who they seem to be after all." He turned back to Jecy and Jaymz. "Hey you two!" he called out. "I don't know who you think we are, but we didn't take your Meowth, honest!"

Jecy and Jaymz looked at each other, puzzled. "Aren't you Red of Team Rocket?" Jecy asked, timidly.

"Me?!" Ash asked incredulously. "I'm not a Team Rocket agent! My name is Ash Ketchum, and I'm from Pallet Town. These are my friends, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu!"

"Pi - ka!" Pikachu called out, in a display of friendship.

Jecy was still suspicious. "Show me your hat," she called out.

Puzzled, Ash looked at his companions for a moment, then bent down to pick up his red and white cap, the Pokémon League symbol prominently on its front, and put it on his head.

Jaymz and Jecy stared for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief. Jaymz finally spoke. "I'm Jaymz," he said, extending his hand and climbing through the hole to Ash's side. "My friend's name is Jecy. And we're both really glad that you're not who we thought you were."

*

"And then he just left, with our Meowth in the jaws of his Onix," Jaymz said, as he stared down at the red rose in his lap. "We were paralyzed and couldn't do anything."

They were all gathered together on the grassy plain. The afternoon had turned out to be quite hot, and they had all gathered under the shade of a tree, a few hundred yards from the river. They were all listening intently while Jaymz recounted the battle with Red.

Ash piped up suddenly. "I don't get it," he said. "You two are telling us a story about a person who looks like me, only you two look like people whom we already know and who have a talking Meowth also! What's going on here?"

"This kind of reminds me of a science fiction show I used to watch on television as a kid," Brock said. "It was set in the future, and there were people who flew around in a big spaceship, and the first officer was a Jynx. Anyway, in one episode, the characters visited a parallel universe."

"Parallel universe? What's that?" Misty inquired.

"That's a world that's kind of like a copy of ours," Brock replied. "In a parallel world, everything that's in our world is also there, but maybe a little bit different from the way that we know it. So if that hole we saw earlier was somehow a tunnel to a parallel universe, that other universe would have a different Jessie and a different James," he continued, pointing to their two new companions as he spoke. "And it would have another Ash as well."

"Another Ash ... oh, that's who you think Red is!" Jaymz exclaimed. Brock nodded.

Misty smiled. "It's hard to imagine Ash as a sinister Team Rocket agent," she declared.

Jaymz continued with the story. "Anyway, we went to see Officer Jenny, and she basically said that she couldn't help, and so we were left with no way to get our friend Meowth back."

"Just a minute," Brock interrupted. "Do you mean to say," he said, getting more and more excited with every word, "that there's a WHOLE PARALLEL UNIVERSE FULL OF OFFICER JENNIES TO MEET?!!"

Misty sighed in resigned frustration.

Jecy seemed not even to hear him as she stared off into the distance. "Poor Meowth," she said sadly. "I hope he's alright. If we weren't such poor trainers, maybe we could have saved him."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourselves," Misty told them. "It sounds like Red is a very experienced Pokémon trainer. I'm sure you did everything you could."

"Thanks, Misty," Jaymz replied. "But Jecy has a point. When it comes to Pokémon battling, we both have a long way to go."

Jecy nodded in agreement. "As we mentioned, we originally planned to go to Pokémon Tech. Being league trainers and earning badges has really been a struggle for us. We're both very hesitant during a Pokémon battle. We're unsure about what orders to give our Pokémon, and often change our minds in the middle of giving a command."

"It's really important to show confidence during a Pokémon battle," Brock told them.

"That's right!" Ash added enthusiastically. "When Pikachu and I go into a Pokémon battle, we're always confident! Isn't that right, buddy?"

"Pi - ka!" Pikachu shouted in affirmation.

"Sometimes too confident," Misty suggested, ignoring Ash's dirty look.

"The important thing," Brock said, "is that you have faith in yourself. That's the best thing you can do for yourself and for your Pokémon."

"We'll try to remember that," Jaymz replied.

The sun was starting to set, so the group decided to set up camp together by the river for the night. They set out from the tree towards the rushing water. Ash and Pikachu led the way, followed by Brock and Jaymz, while Jecy and Misty, Togepi in her arms, took the rear.

Brock and Jaymz were having a rather boisterous conversation, mostly consisting of Brock recounting episodes of the science fiction show he used to watch. Jaymz laughed as Brock told him about an episode in which the captain left the Jynx in command of the spaceship.

Their noisy banter gave Misty and Jecy a chance to have a private conversation of their own, unheard by the others. They had gotten to be really good friends in just a few hours. Misty really liked being with the guys, of course, but sometimes she missed having a female companion to talk to. And she found she had more in common with Jecy, a fellow Pokémon trainer, than with her own pretentious, self-absorbed sisters back home in Cerulean City.

"How long have you and Jaymz been traveling together?" Misty inquired.

"About two months now," Jecy replied. "It seems like longer, though. We've been through so much together already. How about you? How long have you been with Ash and Brock?"

Misty thought for a moment. "I guess I've been traveling with Ash about two years now," she said. "Brock was with us for a while, and then he left for a while and then came back."

"You've been following Ash on his league expeditions for two years?"

Misty nodded.

"All I have to say is that he must be a really great Pokémon trainer for you to have stuck with him so long," Jecy declared.

"Hardly," Misty retorted indignantly. "Ash is far from being a 'great' trainer. I mean, he never thinks about anything before he acts. He's always rushing into danger, without considering the consequences or planning ahead. Just this morning I had to save him from drowning because he jumped into the river over there trying to catch a Dragonair!" Misty was starting to get angry again just thinking about the earlier mishap.

"Really?" Jecy asked, giggling. "No wonder he was so bedraggled when I first saw him."

They were coming close to the inter-dimensional rift now. It was nearing sunset in this world, but the time of day in the other world was a few hours earlier, and the large mountain boulders visible through the rift gleamed brightly in the other world's midday sun. The brilliant view of the other universe made a sharp contrast with the reddish hues of the sky above them as the local sun started to disappear over the horizon.

Although they had seen it before, the sight of the extraordinary rift was still completely entrancing. So much so, in fact, that Brock and Jaymz completely failed to notice that Ash and Pikachu had suddenly disappeared in front of them.

Likewise, Jecy and Misty were totally unaware when Brock and Jaymz vanished in turn. Jecy screamed as she and Misty tumbled down the large hole in the ground that the others had already fallen into.

Ash groaned. He had been the first to fall in and therefore was underneath everyone else, with one of Jecy's sharp heels poking him in the ribs. His first thought was that they had fallen through another inter-dimensional rift, but as his vision slowly cleared, he realized that they were simply at the bottom of an ordinary, albeit deep, hole in the ground. He raised his head just in time to see a pair of long, rubber-tipped tongs come down from above. As Ash gasped in surprise, the tongs plucked Pikachu out of his grasp and quickly lifted the electric Pokémon up out of the hole. Ash shook his head to clear it, and then looked up. At the top of the hole was a Meowth, who was wielding the tongs while two humans in Team Rocket uniforms peered over the edge and laughed triumphantly.

"Not again ..." Ash groaned weakly.