Pokémon Tails: A Journey to the East
DISCLAIMER: I don't own DBZ or Pokémon.
CHAPTER 2: Lost on Another Earth
Upon entering the house, Ash gasped at how spacious and cozy the seemingly small area was.
"Oh, wow, look at this place," Ash exclaimed. "It feels just like home!"
"Pika Pika," Pikachu declared, a similarly awed look upon its chubby little face.
Misty emerged from the other room, looking thrilled.
"Oh, this place is so dreamy," she said breathlessly. "Just a little house to call our own during our adventures."
She giggled happily, then turned to Gohan, smiling sweetly.
"Hey, Gohan, you wouldn't happen to have a bathroom here, would you?" she asked him in honeyed tones.
"Um, sure," Gohan said, pointing to a hallway. "Down that hall. It's the second door on the left."
Misty stuck her nose in the air and turned on her heel. "Perfect. I'm gonna take a bubble bath," she said haughtily, but at the entrance to the hall, she turned back and glared at them. "And you two better not try and sneak in, or I'll knock both your clocks out, I swear I will!"
Gohan held up his hands in placation. "Don't worry, don't worry, I promise I won't."
"Uh, but why would we want to sneak into the bathroom if you're in it, Misty?" Ash asked cluelessly.
Misty flushed a violent shade of red. "Never mind, never mind, just never mind."
And she stomped off into the bathroom.
Once she was gone, Ash turned to Gohan with a rather self-conscious laugh. "Girls, huh? I sure can't figure them out."
"Pika Pika, Pika Pi," Pikachu muttered, hanging its head in complete agreement with a weary sigh of, "Cha..."
Gohan giggled. "Oh, I don't know. She's actually kinda cute."
Ash gaped in horror. "You think Misty's cute?! You really aren't from this planet!"
Gohan just giggled some more at Ash's antics. "Well, it's just she reminds me of Bulma."
Ash stared. "Bulma?"
Gohan smiled. "Oh, just someone I know back home."
Ash merely stared as Gohan continued laughing.
"You're an odd duck, Gohan."
At the same time, further down the hall, with her hand still clasped on the knob from her spot where she'd overheard the conversation, a small, grateful smile drifted over Misty's features, and it was to a seemingly lighter spirit she tugged the knob and strolled into the bathroom.
Outside the house, Team Rocket was on a laptop with a darkly shadowed man on the other end of the line.
"Interesting," the figure said, his voice tinged by dark undertones. "You say he's from another planet?
"Yes, sir!" Jessie piped in. "His exact words were, and I'm quoting, 'My father was an alien.'"
"Hmmm..." the shadowed man said, pondering the situation over.
"Do ya dink it's something worth investigating?" Meowth asked.
After a minute, the shadowed man responded. "Yes. I'm putting you three on this case effective immediately. Find out more about the boy, tail him, and if at all humanly possible, bring him back to me, alive."
"Sir, you can count on us, sir!" Team Rocket chanted in unison.
"You better hope so," the shadowed man growled. "I still haven't forgotten your screw-up at the Pokémon Center. Consider this your chance to redeem yourselves and improve your standing with this team."
Team Rocket gulped. Then, Meowth mustered some courage.
"Hey, don't worry about it dere, Boss," he said with a lazy drawl. "When we're done, dat kid's gonna be putty in our hands."
The shadowed man nodded, and the line went dead as he hung up. Once he was gone, Team Rocket looked ecstatic.
"Oh boy, a new mission!" James squealed excitedly. "And the Boss is putting us in charge of handling it!"
"Yes, but this only means we better not mess up like we did back in Viridian City," Jessie admonished the excitable man.
"Meowth!" Meowth replied, jumping between both and shoving them into the ground. "I'm da real brains of dis here operation, and if dere's any work to be done you just leave it to good old Meowth. Trust me, dat kid's not gonna know what hit 'im."
Jessie glared at him. "Okay, Mr. Brains, what's the idea?"
Meowth thought for a moment, and then the lightbulb dawned.
"Meowth's got da perfect plan!" he said, voice shivering from excitement.
The other two stared at him for a moment.
"Well, spill it," James said.
"Yes, don't leave us hanging in suspense!" Jessie said waspishly.
"Okay, here's da plan!" Meowth said, gesturing for both teammates to come closer.
And they slinked closer to Meowth as hushed discussion took place between them the three of them...
"Ahh, boy, that sure was relaxing!" Misty sighed contentedly as she slid out of the bathroom, a cyan-colored bathrobe hugging to her body as a white linen towel lay draped across her head. "It's been so long since my last one."
Gohan, in the midst of showing Ash every gizmo and gadget, turned to face her again.
"Yeah, and that's not all," he said. "There's two bedrooms, a training room, a kitchen, a dining room, and even a library."
Misty pressed both hands together into her tilted head, leg upraised as she sighed in pleasure. "I love this house."
"Pika Pika," Pikachu said with a sweatdrop on its forehead.
Ash snickered. "Yup, that's a girl for you, falling in love with a house!"
BAM!
Which is how Ash found himself right upside over the coffee table.
"Let's see you rough in the wilderness for four weeks without a shower and see how you like it, Mr. Big Man!" Misty yelled.
Gohan simply sweatdropped. Wow, she's got a big temper. She's just like Mom.
Misty turned to Gohan, now totally serious. "Hey Gohan, you got anything to eat in here?"
"Oh sure!" Gohan said, moving to the kitchen as the two followed him. "Just sit down and I'll fix us all some dinner!"
Ash wrinkled his nose. "It's not some kind of weird alien fungus, is it?"
Gohan chuckled. "No, of course not! I do have a huge menu, but I'm afraid my options are limited. I... can't cook very well." Gohan laughed sheepishly. "But I'm sure that I can whip you up something simple."
The humans and Pokémon took their place at the table, waiting expectantly. A few minutes later, Gohan returned with several dozen sandwiches, rice balls, potato chips, various assorted salads, and fruits and vegetables, all stacked in his arms as he balanced them smartly.
"Wow, look at this stuff!" Ash exclaimed.
"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed, eyes wide at all the tasty food.
"I don't know if we can eat that much!" Misty said, awed.
"Oh, it's not all for you," Gohan said sheepishly, a faint blush creeping up his cheeks. "It's for me."
"FOR YOU?!" Ash and Misty repeated in unison.
"PIKA?!" Pikachu added.
"I've... sort of got a big appetite," Gohan said with a rather nervous laugh.
Ash and Misty exchanged a glance clearly saying, "Is he kidding?"
Gohan set all the food down on the table. "Well, dig in!"
And Ash and Misty could only watch in astonishment as Gohan tore into his food with a speed and fervor that defied all logic.
"Wow, he really packs it in, doesn't he?" Ash said.
"I've never seen anyone eat that much!" Misty said, sounding shocked.
"Well, ghom on, guysh, ghaff shome of it!" Gohan urged through a mouthful of chow. "It's good!"
With a sweatdrop, Ash and Misty settled into their dinner, eating at a considerably more leisurely pace.
"Hey Gohan, there's something bothering me," Misty suddenly said.
"Well, what is it?" Gohan asked, gulping down a roast beef sandwich.
"If your father's an alien then how come you have human food with you?" she asked sensibly. "Did you visit Earth in the past?"
"Oh no, no, no, see, I don't come from another planet," Gohan explained. "I come from another Earth."
Ash and Misty stared in total bewilderment at what he said.
"What? Another Earth? But that's impossible!" Ash shared. "How can there be two Earths?"
"Yeah, there's only one Earth," Misty agreed.
"Pika... chu..." the yellow rat said, with swirling Xs of confusion surrounding its head.
"No, no, not this Earth," Gohan explained reasonably. "Another Earth, from a different parallel world."
Ash and Misty looked, if anything, more confused than they were before.
"See, it's like this," Gohan began patiently. "There are perhaps an infinite number of timelines within the universe and in each of these realities are separate Earths, coexisting in the exact same space and time but in different space-times that are proportional to each other in higher dimensional wavelengths we can't see or hear with our limited senses."
"Did you follow any of that?" Misty asked, sounding like her brain had exploded.
"Nuh-uh," Ash said, sounding like the explanation had tired him.
"Pika... Pika..." Pikachu finished, sounding similarly affected.
Gohan scratched his head, trying to think of the best way to explain it to them. "Hm, well, er... um... hm... man, this is complicated."
"Tell me about it," Ash groaned.
"Oh, I know!" Gohan said. "You both know what it's like when you swim underwater, right?"
The two nodded. "Oh, of course, I love the water," Misty said passionately with glowing sparkles of pure adoration shining in her green eyes. "It's my specialty. Oh, I simply adore all Water-type Pokémon."
Ash just favored her with a sour look.
"Well, you ever notice how the world looks a lot different when you go underwater?" Gohan elaborated.
Misty nodded, Ash a bit more slowly.
"Well, that's basically another dimension," Gohan said. "You can't touch or feel the world above it, yet it's still there, it's just invisible to you, separated by a barrier which divides both the land and oceans. When dividing dimensions, replace those with space and time."
"Oh, I think I get it now!" Misty replied, pleased that she could finally understand some of the extremely technical jargon. "You're saying you come from a different Earth that's in the same place, but it's invisible to us, and yet, it's like our own at the same time?"
Gohan nodded, overjoyed to see she had worked it out. "Yes, now you've got it!"
"I couldn't even understand that..." Ash sighed. "Could you, Pikachu?"
"Pika," the little Electric Rat chirped, shaking its head to and fro.
Gohan and Misty shared a glance and sighed.
"So what are things like on your Earth?" Misty asked, now very interested in getting to know more about the mysterious Son Gohan. "Do humans still live there? How is it any different from our Earth?"
"Well, yes, where I come from, there are human beings, but also talking animals, demons, aliens, and all sorts of creatures," Gohan told her. "I'm half-human, half-Saiyan; I inherited this tail from my dad."
"Oh wow, it sounds like a real crazy place to live!" Ash said.
"Yeah, you're not joking!" Misty said, backing him up.
"But wait a minute..." Ash said, his naïve mind working to fill in the gaps between what Gohan had said and piece it all together. "You said that you come from a separate Earth, right? Different from our own?"
"Yup!" Gohan nodded.
"But then... how did you get here?" Ash asked reasonably.
Misty looked shocked at this rare display of logic and common sense.
"Hmph, I hate to say it, but Ash actually has a good point," Misty admitted. "For once."
Ash laughed haughtily. Misty turned to Gohan, still curious.
"How did you get here?" she pressed, hoping for an explanation.
"Pika Pika?" the little Pokémon asked, now eager to know too.
"Oh, well, that's simple," Gohan said, and he held up his arm for them to see.
Misty instantly noticed the watch-like device tied onto his wrist.
"With this!" Gohan announced proudly.
"A watch?" Ash asked, blinking rather stupidly.
Gohan giggled. "No, it's not a watch, silly! It's a machine Bulma built for me! She calls it a Dimensional Hopper."
Gohan held it closer for them to see, and Ash and Misty noted the little connections.
"Wow, I've never seen so much circuits and wires in my life!" Misty marveled. "I'm getting dizzy just looking at it!"
"Pika!" Pikachu breathed.
"It's easy," Gohan stated. "See, you input the specific wavelength for your destination timeline —"
Gohan indicated a few complex-looking panels and gears and wires that looked like nothing more than thousands of tiny parts that made absolutely no sense to Misty, Ash, and Pikachu, all of who seemed to be growing more and more confused by the minute.
"Pika... chuuuuuu..." the tiny Pokémon moaned pathetically.
"— and then you simply press the blue button right here," Gohan instructed, showing them the button in question. "With it, I can travel to any location in the universe, anytime and anyplace I want to."
"Wow, cool!" Ash gushed, now building back up to excitement. "So do you think when you go home, you can take us with you?"
"Oh yes, that sounds like a real neat adventure!" Misty said with a beautiful smile. "I'd love to see what your world looks like!"
Gohan laughed and rubbed at the back of his head. "Sure, why not? I'll ask Bulma to make some for you and come back with them."
"All right, sounds like a plan to me!" Misty answered.
"Count me in too!" Ash replied eagerly, the thought of a new journey instantly catching his interest.
"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu cried, voicing its consent.
Suddenly, Gohan caught sight of something outside the living room window; a giant, upright, vaguely disjointed shape which seemed to be struggling and heaving like mad in strange movements in the pitch-black woods. The half-Saiyan stood up instantly.
"Hey, what is that?" he asked, pointing.
The shape withdrew into the darkness. Gohan's brow furrowed.
"Um, what's what?" Misty asked, turning her head to look.
Ash did the same. "What, what do you see?"
"Pika?" the yellow rodent added.
Moving very slowly, Gohan rounded the table to the other side.
"I swear, for a second there, I saw something out there in the woods," Gohan insisted. "It was big and bulky and was moving strangely."
"There's nothing there, Gohan," Misty pointed out.
Gohan frowned. "I don't know. I can sense something out there."
Ash turned back to face him. "You mean you can sense that?"
Gohan nodded once, his face clenched in concentration. "I just can't figure it out, but something's not... not right about this..."
"Well, if you ask me, I think your imagination is just playing tricks on you," Misty snipped.
"Maybe," Gohan said uncertainly as his brow clenched even more. "But... I'm sure I saw it!"
And as his eyes shot open, Gohan took off running out of the house.
"Whoa, Gohan, what are you doing?" Misty yelled at him.
"Gohan, hey, wait up!" Ash called, getting up and chasing after him.
"Pika Pika, Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed, quickly following after its Trainer.
"Don't leave me behind!" Misty complained, taking off after them as well.
Gohan ran out of the front doorway and entered the small clearing their house stood in. For a couple of minutes, Gohan just stood there, shifting his head from side to side in a vain effort to find whatever it was that he had seen inside.
Ash, Misty, and Pikachu caught up to him.
"What is it, Gohan?" Ash asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"
"Pika, Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu ventured forth as well.
After a few seconds, Misty folded her arms. "Are you happy? I hate to say I told you so, but there's nothing out here!"
And Ash threw her a sideways glance. "Since when you haven't you enjoyed saying, 'I told you so?'"
"Plenty!" the fiery redhead snorted. "You just haven't seen it because you haven't done one single thing right yet, Mr. Pokémon Master!"
"Apparently so, or you wouldn't be traveling with me!" Ash snapped.
"You take that back or I'm gonna —" Misty began, eyes blazing.
"Gonna what, hit me like you always do?" Ash threw at her.
"Only because you're too thick-headed to understand what I say!" Misty retorted.
"Oh, just like you're so perfect!" Ash then threw up a high-pitched tone of voice in a mocking imitation of Misty's shouts. "'Oh, help, I'm afraid of Bug Pokémon!' 'Oh, my bike got destroyed!' 'I don't know how to find my way out of this forest!'"
Misty grabbed Ash by his collar and began shaking him, fist balled back. "Why, I ought to —"
Meanwhile, during all their time spent bickering, Gohan had been intently searching the forest, using his enhanced superhuman senses to search for something out of the ordinary. Suddenly, he heard it!
"Hey, you guys, quiet!" Gohan said urgently. "I think I hear something."
Misty let go of Ash instantly and the two stuck themselves closer to Gohan, peeking out at the forest with hands perched above their eyes as though shielding their vision from the sun's rays — even Pikachu.
"Do you hear anything?" Ash asked.
"Not a thing," Misty answered. "Do you?"
"Uh-uh," Ash said, shaking his head.
"Pika?" Pikachu whispered.
"There!" Gohan said as a light, barely audible snap assaulted their ears. "It's coming from over there!"
In a flash, Gohan was off and running towards the disturbance. He passed through a clump of bushes when all of a sudden, a net hoisted itself up over Gohan, ensnaring him within its tightly coiled bindings.
"Ah!" Misty cried.
"What the...?!" Ash said dumbly.
"Pika?!" Pikachu agreed.
Within seconds, the net had been pulled clear up into the forest's canopy underneath the familiar shape of a hot-air balloon!
And just like that, the sounds of familiar laughter hit Ash and Misty's ears.
"Well, that little ruse worked out better than I expected!" a female voice said, wickedly elegant.
"Hahaha, I'm feeling giddy!" another, high-pitched male voice added.
And right in the same location Gohan had been running towards, Meowth, Ekans, and Koffing suddenly popped up, discarding the hastily assembled blanket thrown over the three Pokémon to disguise them.
"It's like Meowth says!" the pussycat purred. "Da old 'distraction-in-da-woods trick' gets 'em every dime!"
Team Rocket laughed again.
"Not them!" Misty growled angrily. "Not again!"
"Won't you guys ever quit?!" Ash demanded. "And what are you doing with Gohan?"
"Pika, Pikachu!" Pikachu shot at them rather heatedly.
"You twerps just don't get it," Jessie proclaimed vainly. "We're the ones calling the shots here. It just so happens that our Boss has taken a sudden interest in this boy you're traveling with here, and he wants us to bring him back to our hideout for questioning."
"And whatever Team Rocket wants, Team Rocket gets!" James piped in, sounding like an overexcited six-year-old girl.
Ascending back into their hot-air balloon in a lowered rope, the Rocket Pokémon rejoined their Trainers.
Gohan, for his part, seemed more confused than afraid or angry. "Uh, what's going on here? Did I miss something?"
Team Rocket laughed again.
"Just sit tight and enjoy the ride, little boy," Jessie said in a falsely soothing tone.
"We're taking you with us!" James announced happily, giggling.
"Says Meowth!" the catlike Pokémon finished.
And Team Rocket concluded this speech with still more laughter.
"Gohan, no!" Misty cried, sounding extremely concerned for her new friend. "No, we can't let them do this!"
"We can't just sit here!" Ash growled impotently. "We've gotta do something."
"Pika Pi!" Pikachu added worriedly.
"Oh, you guys don't have to worry about me," the tailed boy told them, his voice still remaining calm despite the dire situation he was in. "I can take care of myself. Wait a moment... just you watch..."
And with a smirk, the confused expressions of all present heralding what was soon to come, the boy reached out and instantly, a wave of explosive blue light engulfed the net... and the balloon... as Team Rocket themselves went crashing down like a flaming meteor.
For a few seconds, Gohan just floated there, unmoving, as he gazed down at the fallen Rocket members with a goofy grin.
"A-A-A-Am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Misty gulped.
"G-G-Gohan!" Ash called out. "Y-Y-Y-Y-You're flying!"
Gohan flashed them the peace sign, then shot down to the ground, right in front of the dazed Team Rocket struggling to their feet.
"Impossible..." James grunted. "How in the world did that twerp overpower us so skillfully?"
"No matter!" Jessie said determinedly. "It's time to resort to Plan B!"
Whipping out a burlap sack and rope, Team Rocket approached Gohan with sinister leers stretching across their faces.
"Oh no!" Misty said. She glanced aside. "Ash, I think it's time we stepped in to help!"
Ash nodded. "Gotcha! Ready, Pikachu?"
"Pika, Pika!" the little rodent avowed, thumping its chest with its fist.
Gohan turned his head back to them, a grin plastered on his lips.
"Don't worry," he said confidently. "I can handle these guys."
He turned back to face the encroaching Team Rocket, now inches away from him.
"So, you want to catch me, do you?" Gohan said teasingly.
"Game's up, kid!" James said. "Like it or not, we're taking you with us!"
"Now get in the sack and cooperate with us like a good little boy!" Jessie said sweetly.
Gohan stuck his tongue out at them.
"Why, of all the nerve!" she growled. "You little brat!"
Gohan chuckled, finding these three to be very amusing.
"Dodge this!" James yelled, swinging the sack down.
However, before it could hit, Gohan ducked to the side, and James's swipe went wild — he almost lost his balance and fell over.
Gohan just laughed. "So, you ready to give up?"
"Oh, you troublemaking little mutant freak!" Jessie seethed. "Take this!"
Jessie lunged at Gohan with the coiled rope, but Gohan dodged backwards. Taking the initiative, James made to try and bag Gohan, but Gohan simply jumped up, followed by a side leap to evade Jessie's rope, and an arched backflip to dodge the sack finished with a sidestep to avoid both of them coming at him at the same time with sack and rope.
Misty and Ash both watched in total amazement as Gohan parried, blocked, defended, ducked, dodged, leaped, and avoided every single move that Team Rocket made to try to get him into the burlap sack, much to their mounting frustration.
"Wow, Ash, this is unbelievable!" Misty said. "Look how fast he's moving!"
"It's just like watching a Pokémon battle!" Ash marveled.
"Pika! Pika Pika!" Pikachu added.
Sensing their Trainers now in trouble, Meowth turned to the other two Pokémon.
"Well, what are you two numbskulls waiting for?" he cried. "Charge! Charge! Charge!"
And like a flash, the three Pokémon were off and racing at Gohan. Within an instant, they had thrown themselves into the fray, trying to get at any inch of Gohan they could reach at, but the small Saiyan boy was just too fast for them to even touch, let alone get into their sack.
"Would — you — hold — still — darn — you!" Jessie screamed.
"How are we supposed to bag you if we can't even see you?" the blue-haired man whined petulantly, sounding like a toddler.
"Haha, you missed me!" Gohan cried happily. "Over here! No, here! Haha, too slow! You're gonna have to do better than that!"
By now, Ash and Misty's eyes were bulging out of their sockets.
"Oh man, this is too much!" Ash said. "I just can't believe all this!"
"Hey Gohan, are you sure you don't want us to help you?" Misty suggested.
Gohan glanced back at them. "Nah, I'm fine!"
However, that would prove to be a fatal mistake, for at the last possible second, he saw the Snake Pokémon lunging for him, mouth outstretched as if to eat him, and he slid to the side with effortless ease, but through either skill or luck the Ekans nicked his wrist...
Like a stone, the Dimensional Hopper fell off his wrist to the pine needles and the soil beneath him, but before Gohan could even think about retrieving it again, the Ekans fell to the forest floor with a great thud of impact... right where the Dimensional Hopper was!
CRUNCH!
Gohan could only watch in complete horror, his heart plummeting and his body trembling, as the Serpent Pokémon crushed his device.
"That didn't sound good..." Misty said, sweatdropping.
"Oh no!" Ash cried out. "That dimensiona-whatever! It's gone!"
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu gasped out, sounding just as horrified.
James toed the debris of the Dimensional Hopper still clustered on the dirt floor. "Hey, what's this?"
"Looks pretty valuable," the red-haired vixen observed as she leaned in for a closer look.
"Well, it was," Meowth replied, sounding unconcerned.
Gohan fell to his knees, his lip trembling as he held out tentative hands toward the ruined device. "N-N-No... Bulma's Dimensional Hopper. I-I-It's wrecked... n-no. I-I-I can't get back to my home dimension... that means... I'm stuck here!"
Ash, Misty, and Pikachu watched the extradimensional hybrid with pity in their hearts.
"Oh, Gohan..." Misty whispered sadly, her eyes glimmering.
"Pika Pika," the Electric Pokémon muttered.
And just like that, Gohan's whole demeanor changed. It was like a light switch had been flipped — from kind and carefree, the boy now seemed to transform into cold, hard, and ruthless before their very eyes.
Slowly, with a deliberate looseness, Gohan now rose up to his full height, which, while not impressive, was amplified by the raw fury on his face that promised severe consequences for the three buffoons.
"You..." he growled, and even to Ash and Misty, seeing this sudden side of Gohan was quite shocking and jarring.
"G-Gohan?" Misty stammered.
"YOU!" Gohan averred, making the word a malediction.
Team Rocket flinched at how cruel the voice now sounded; it felt as hot and intense as star flames, yet as icy and cold as the infinite void between galaxies; merely hearing it sent shivers down their spines.
"Y-Y-Y-Yes?" James said innocently.
"Is there some kind of problem?" Jessie asked, trying and failing not to look scared.
"You destroyed my gadget!" he snarled. "Do you know what you've done?! I can never go home again!"
"Well, trouble is as trouble does," James said in a singsong.
"You know how these little accidents happen," Jessie added with a fake smile.
Gohan's face tensed up. "All right, that's it. Now you've done it. I swear... I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
And instantaneously, without any warning, a golden explosion surrounded Gohan's body, blowing back everyone who was too close and throwing out fierce winds into the clearing as the half-Saiyan's hair turned blond and his eyes changed green.
"Ahh, Ash, what on Earth is going on?!" Misty wondered.
"I don't know!" Ash cried back. "But hold on!"
"PIIIIIIIIKAAAAAA!" Pikachu wailed.
WHAM! WHAM!
Now finding themselves smashed up against a tree, Misty and Ash rubbed the backs of their head as they struggled against the ferocious whirlwind of power being emitted by Gohan, who just stood there, in the center of the tiny clearing, bathed in a golden aura and the steady hum of some otherworldly energy, golden flames now licking across his body as if like the fire from some demonic being.
"Ash, am I dreaming, or does Gohan have gold hair?" Misty demanded.
"No, you're not!" Ash answered. "I see it too!"
"Pikachu!" Pikachu put forth.
Entirely focused now on his prey, Gohan ignored all outside distractions. He took a step forward; instantly, Team Rocket took a step back, huddling together and seeking protection from one another as they stared down the wrathful Gohan, whose face appeared to be set in stone.
"I can't forgive you for this," Gohan vowed. "I promise I won't forgive you for this."
"W-W-W-W-We're really sorry, kid," Jessie stammered awkwardly.
James clasped both hands together. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, we're sorry, we're so very, very, very, very, very sorry! Please don't hurt us!"
With a savage growl, Gohan thrust his arm out, palm upward, as some unknown energy formed within it.
"What's he doing?" Ash wondered. "Some kind of Pokémon attack?"
"But he's not a Pokémon, remember?" Misty reminded him.
And with a loud, nearly deafening kiai, Gohan shot a violet-hued ki blast at Team Rocket. At the last second, the three villains jumped to avoid getting hit, which caught beneath them and blew up in a huge explosion!
BOOM!
Like the force of a contained nuclear bomb going off, Team Rocket was sent shooting off into the skies at hypersonic speeds.
"Drat, I didn't expect this to happen so early in the fanfic!" James sighed.
"You call dis early?" Meowth demanded. "It's almost to da end!"
"Well, it's not making us look good to the audience, now is it?" James pointed out.
"I dink they're used to dat kind of ding by now, you dingbat!" the talking Pokémon retorted.
"Oh zip it already and just say the line!" Jessie snapped.
"IT LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" they cried.
They disappeared into the dark sky with a point of light trailing in their wake.
Once he was sure they were gone, Gohan couldn't contain it any longer and fell to the dirty forest floor, his hair slowly morphing back to black as he dropped to his knees in pure despair, huddled over pathetically on the ground.
"I just don't believe it," Ash muttered. "I don't know if I ever would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."
"I know, Ash," Misty sighed.
Ash's eyes shined over brightly. "Gohan must be stronger than every Pokémon in the world!"
Misty fell over. A second later, she was back up and bopped a good one to Ash's head.
"Hey, would you stop doing that?!" Ash demanded.
"You idiot!" Misty screamed. "That isn't important now!"
And she turned to face the now quietly weeping boy.
Misty's features softened drastically, more than Ash had ever seen from her. "Look at him, Ash. He has no home anymore. His only way back is gone. He's stuck here, in our world, and he has no one else besides us," she said gently.
"Oh yeah, I guess you're right," Ash said softly. "What do we do?"
Wordlessly, Misty headed over to the huddled mass on the forest floor and a few inches away she knelt down beside him.
"Gohan, it's okay," she said tenderly, and Ash was shocked to hear how... feminine and sweet Misty sounded, a stark contrast to the tomboy's otherwise dominating personality. "Gohan, don't worry."
"H-H-How can y-y-you s-say th-that?" Gohan sobbed. "If only I h-hadn't t-t-tried to m-m-mess around and h-h-have a l-l-little f-fun, I-I wouldn't b-b-be in th-this situation, st-stuck here all b-by myself..."
"You're not alone, Gohan," Misty said comfortingly. "You have us. We're your friends, remember?"
Gohan's sobs slowly died down, and he glanced up at Misty, to which the beautiful redhead just flashed him a rather cute smile. "Hey, if you managed to come here once then there absolutely has to be a way to get you back home again."
Gohan hung on to her every word, and slowly, oh so slowly, he felt himself calming down.
"You just got to get out there and find it!" Misty said, suddenly all aggressive. "The answer is right out there just waiting for you to come and grab it by the neck until you own it! But, you're never going to find the answer by just sitting around here feeling sorry for yourself. Stand up tall and you can conquer any problem, no matter how big or small!"
And then, for the first time since the Dimensional Hopper was broken, Gohan cracked a smile. Wiping his tears away, he rose to his feet.
"Yes, you're right," he said. "You're right. I know. I know it!"
And suddenly passionate, he turned to look up at the distant stars.
There is a way home, and I don't care how long it takes, or what I have to do to discover it, it's out there, and so long as I draw breath in this body, I won't rest until I am back with my family where I belong, Gohan vowed privately to himself.
Feeling much better than he did before, Gohan glanced back to Misty.
"You know... you're a pretty nice girl, Misty," Gohan said, and he flashed her a genuinely happy "Son Grin" which was designed to make even the most iron-willed of tough, strong girls go weak in the knees, and even Misty was no exception. "Thank you."
Misty blushed furiously as a look of anger crossed her face. "Well, I suppose you're nice too... for a dumb boy, that is!"
Gohan just grinned cheerfully, oblivious to Misty's temper. Aww, she's kinda cute when she's angry and blushing, he thought. Very cute.
"Um, I don't understand what just happened here," Ash confessed. Then he shook it off, building up into determination. "But Misty's right. We're both your friends and we're going to help you go home again!"
Misty stifled a giggle. Go home, she thought. That sounds like ET.
Gohan sniffled. "Thanks, Ash. Thanks, Misty. I know with your help, I can do it."
Suddenly, Misty yawned. Ash followed, and then quickly Pikachu as well.
"Oh wow, it's been a long day," Misty intoned sleepily. She turned to Gohan. "Do you have any beds for us to sleep in?"
"Sure," Gohan said. "Two of them. And I have a few bunk bed capsules laying around someplace."
"Perfect!" Misty declared energetically, running off into the house. "I get top bunk!"
"No fair!" Ash exclaimed. "Why do you get to be on top?"
"Because I'm the girl!" Misty teased as she stuck her tongue out at the clueless boy.
"I swear, I am never going to understand girls," Ash sighed. Then he looked over at Gohan. "Are you coming?"
Gohan glanced over at him. "Eventually; there's... there's something I gotta do first. You go without me. I won't take long, promise."
"Okay!" Ash said and he took off running into the house after Misty. "You're not getting the top bunk, Misty!"
"I am if I say I am!" Misty called back from inside the house.
As they bickered, Gohan knelt down to scoop up all the fragments and pieces of the dysfunctional Dimensional Hopper.
I don't know if this will ever work again, but I'll never know unless I try, Gohan thought. And if not it might come in handy someday.
Unbeknownst to him, however, a bright light glowed from somewhere nearby, monitoring his every move...
"So, you see, Boss, that's how it turned out," James said, looking disappointed as all of Team Rocket slumped dejectedly.
"Hmm," the shadowed man spoke. "Well, you three may have failed to capture the kid, but your efforts weren't a total waste."
"Really?!" Team Rocket chimed forth excitedly, like little children.
"Yes, already we have learned that this boy is a formidable opponent indeed, not one to be underestimated and taken lightly," the shadowed man said menacingly. Silence for a few moments, and then he spoke, his voice crisp and neat and to the point. "You three, stay on him. Give me regular status reports, but, proceed with caution from here on. As much as it pains me to admit this, you three are still my top operatives best suited to carry out the task I've laid before you."
"Sir, you can depend on us!" Jessie vowed, raising her arm. "I promise, in a year or two at the most, you'll know everything you want to know about this Gohan boy; who he is, where he comes from, and what kind of powers he has —"
"His favorite color, what he likes to eat, what type of Pokémon he likes..." James interjected.
WHACK!
Meowth smacked James hard over the head. "Can it with your stupidity, lamebrain!"
"Ouch, that hurt," James groaned dazedly.
"I'm surrounded by idiots," the shadowed man sighed.
"Hey, Boss..." Meowth inquired, somewhat timidly.
"Yes, what is it, Meowth?" he demanded.
"Well... is Meowth still your top cat?" the Coin Pokémon asked nervously.
"Just do this simple task for me, and you'll be rewarded beyond your richest dreams," the shadowed man said, a smirk in his voice.
"Meowth!" Meowth cried. "You got it, Boss!"
And with that, their Boss hung up. Team Rocket huddled together excitedly.
"Oh, do you know what this means?" James sighed contentedly.
"Yes, I certainly do, James," Jessie said, her eyes glowing with dollar signs. "Team Rocket is on the fast track to success, and we're the ones who will help it to get there. All the money in the world will be at our fingertips, we'll have servants at every beck and call..."
"Meowth, you can take your cash!" Meowth said as visions of their boss softly stroking his and neck and scratching behind his ears filled his mind. "All Meowth wants is a comfy seat on da Boss's chair and Meowth is da happiest cat in da whole world!"
"No, no, no, not that!" James said grandly.
The other Rocket members stared at him blankly.
"Well, then, what, James?" Jessie demanded.
James squealed like a little girl and did a happy dance. "We're back in the show, and it only took us fifteen years to do it!"
Meowth and Jessie sighed.
"He's a bit loony in da head," Meowth muttered embarrassedly.
"It's not a few screws loose!" Jessie said angrily. "It's an empty lottery machine, and he's stuck on spare change right now!"
James stuck his face in the screen. "So, if all you readers out there were happy with this chapter, you know what to do! Now bye!"
Woo-hoo! Got another chapter done today! Tell me, how did people like the fourth wall jokes? Team Rocket is the only one to make them throughout the entirety of Pokémon and that's gonna stay true here, though I promise you it will never overshadow the story.
Anyway, you know the drill by now. Please review!
James: Hey, what about me?
Just go and bug other fanfic authors!
James: Yay! Yippee! Whoo-hoo!
Children. So easily amused. 😋