Something prickly edged into Meowth's shoulder. He tried to lift himself up but found his arms weak. His eyes blinked open for a moment, and he groaned when the light stung. What was going on? "What—? Who? Pika—Pikachu? Jimmy?" He heard footsteps and continued with a hoarse voice, "Jess? Please tell me dat's you."

"Oh my goodness! You did wake up!" There was a pause. "I thought I heard some meowing in here."

He opened his eyes and didn't recognize the woman standing before him. His voice spent, he whispered, "Meowin'? I don't know whatcha talkin' about, lady."

"I'm Delia, Ash's mom." She sat down next to the bed. The cat attempted to turn his head towards her, but he struggled with the effort required for such a movement. "He and Pikachu brought you in a few days ago. You've been in pretty rough shape!"

There was an IV line in his paw. Meowth attempted to take in the room in which he found himself. It was a small, well-kept home. The bed he was on was small, cozy, with a Pokeball-patterned comforter. Ash's room. Figurines of Pokemon dotted bookshelves, and a small, outdated television was perched on a dresser. Sunlight poured in the windows, and this Delia person was cheerful, still blabbing. No wonder Ash was such a goody two-shoes.

He coughed and managed to speak two words before his voice gave out again: "So what—"

"Oh! You must be pretty out of the loop! What happened—it's a long story. And here's some water." She lifted a glass to his face, and he managed to get a few sips. "I'll see if I can get it straight." She took a deep breath. "Ash told me about the infinity energy program. You were put into one of the machines, Gary got you out, something—um, weird—happened to your body. And then you didn't wake up." Delia smiled. "Until now!"

"How long—"

"A little over two months. Ash and Pikachu are on an important mission, and apparently there's a very large battle underway over in Lavender Town."

Meowth stiffened. Two months. And he wasn't dead. He gathered strength to prop himself up so he could look outside the window. It was true. He last remembered it being late summer, and now it looked like late fall. The trees were bare, and brown leaves covered the ground. He slid back down onto the bed, but something shiny caught his interest. The sharp object under his shoulder was now in view, and Meowth picked it up. It was one of James's treasured bottlecaps. "Jimmy."

"Your friends? Ash said they went to fight at Rocket Headquarters."

He closed his eyes.

"You know, I wish I had a way to tell Ash and Pikachu that you've woken up. They didn't take any phones or anything. Flying under the radar, I guess. But they were worried. I don't think I've seen Pikachu that worried before."

"Pikachu?"

She stood up. "Is there anything else I can get you? You like human food, right? Orange juice? Tea? You should probably eat something solid, too. What about some rice?"

/

Jessie, James, and their Pokemon materialized with an Abra in the tunnels beneath Team Rocket's headquarters. Jessie hummed the theme to her favorite spy movie to herself, but the tune trailed off. "Usually I'd be excited to be in the tunnels again, but this is just nerve-wracking."

"Tell me about it." James walked with his shoulders hunched forward. He pointed to a dark cylinder on a wall. "There's a camera there. Dodge it. We really should have teleported inside."

"And miss a dramatic entrance?" Jessie hugged the wall beneath the camera. "No way."

Arbok slithered ahead of the two humans and stopped in front of a white door with a small, square window. "Like old times."

"Heh." Weezing coughed out a dry laugh.

James pushed on the door but paused to address the Abra. "You don't have to come with us…it will be dangerous. Can you meet us in the forest by the sign for Victory Road?"

The Abra nodded.

"Thank you so much." James held his breath for a second as he entered the stairwell. He then pulled a pristine rose from his pocket and inhaled its scent. "I've been waiting for this. Let's go."

Reaching the ground floor, Jessie and James stood back-to-back in the marble lobby.

"Prepare for trouble."

"And make it double."

Their words echoed, and heads turned.

A familiar voice responded, "Not these clowns again."

"Oh! Cassidy, always lovely to see you…and Biff—"

"—Butch."

"Uh-huh." Jessie folded her arms against her chest. "Do us a favor. Just tell us where Giovanni is, and we won't cause too much trouble here. For old times' sake."

"You mean World Leader Giovanni." Cassidy smirked. "Like we'd tell you two traitors. Like we'd even know where such an important person is." She shrugged. "But he's not even here, anyway."

James twirled the rose in his fingers. "Weezing, give us some cover."

A smokescreen filled the lobby.

Jessie knelt to Wobbuffet's level. "Is Giovanni in this building?"

Wobbuffet squinted in concentration. "The roof!" His arms extended towards the ceiling.

"Looks like we're going up. Arbok, poison sting! James, let's go!"

They ran to the elevators and punched the button multiple times.

"Come on, come on…" James bounced on the balls of his feet.

The elevator door opened. Jessie pushed James inside, and the Pokemon followed her. Teeth clenched, she jiggled an old key into a spot near a button labeled "ROOF ACCESS." "If they changed the locks, I swear I'll—"

The car began accelerating upwards with tinkling smooth jazz coming through the speakers. Wobbuffet bounced to the beat, and Arbok bobbed his head. Weezing rolled his eyes. Jessie and James stood still, staring straight ahead to the polished elevator doors.

The music was interrupted by a chime, and the doors slid open. A cold wind blew. A roaring sound filled the sky. James pointed upwards. It was the Prime Minister's—no, Giovanni's—helicopter. Jessie screamed something, but the chopper drowned out her words.

"What?" James yelled.

"I said, he's going to get away!"

"Duh." Weezing tilted his whole, floating body up to watch the helicopter.

"Weezing. Arbok." James steepled his fingers. "I want you to blast us off."

Jessie stepped back. "What!?"

"It's the only way we'll catch him."

"You want us to—" Arbok looked to Weezing.

"Attack us. Blast us off."

Arbok and Weezing shook their heads.

"Do it for Meowth."

"You know, he was a terrible manager." Arbok tilted his head.

Weezing coughed out a laugh. "Eh, he grew on you."

Jessie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Just do it, okay!"

"Yeah, and when we left you guys behind in Hoenn, it took us ten years to find you." Arbok shook his head again.

James scratched Weezing under his chin as he addressed Arbok. "If that's about getting separated, we'll find each other. Sooner this time. We'll meet at Rock Tunnel when all is said and done."

Jessie leaned forward and patted Arbok on the head. "That's right. We'll be back together in no time."

"So please—blast us off. Aim us towards Giovanni." James squinted to see the aircraft fading in the distance. "We're running out of time."

Arbok and Weezing counted down uneasily. "3…2…1…" They rushed forward together, pummeling the humans off the building and upwards.

"We're blasting off again!"

There was a twinkle in the sky.

/

A light snow had begun to fall in Lavender Town. Clusters of humans and Pokemon teleported in, one-by-one in front of Pokemon Tower.

"Well this isn't good." Wartortle took off his sunglasses as he spun around. A circle of tanks lined the perimeter of the property. Officers Jenny, government soldiers, and Team Rocket grunts stood in formation.

"Hey!" An Officer Jenny with a megaphone stood on top of a tank. "You are surrounded! Surrender now, or prepare to fight."

Brock scratched his head. "I could swear that sounds familiar…"

A laugh shook the ground. "Surrender? Us?" Charizard stretched out his wings and spat out fire towards the Officer Jenny. "Hell no!"

"Charizard!"Venusaur gave an exasperated sigh.

"What?"

The loud pops of hundreds of bullets echoed. "That." Venusaur held a vine up to his head.

"Oh. Oh crap. Oh crap oh crap. Okay I got this. Hold on." Charizard flew up and over the bunch of Ditto. "Guys! Guys! Turn into me! Right now."

Dozens of Charizard were now in the air, combining dragon rage attacks into a single, powerful beam aimed at the largest formation of the army before them. A Dragonite's hyper beam met the blast, causing an explosion.

Misty's ears rang with a high pitched whine. Then, she was floating. Blinking, she looked down at her feet, which hovered over a shaking ground. Someone had used an earthquake attack. Everyone else around her was also several inches off the ground. The ground grew still again, and her feet touched the ground again. She knelt down and crawled over to Brock, whose arms covered his head.

A disembodied voice echoed: "Do not worry. I foresaw that coming."

Misty and Brock saw Alakazam, calm as ever, spin twisted spoons in his gnarled hands.

"Do you have a plan?" Misty grabbed Brock's shoulder.

He shook his head. "I'm trying to think of one."

Meanwhile, Charizard and the Ditto-Charizard flew together as a swarm, barely missing another hyper beam attack from a Team Rocket Nidoqueen.

"You are so lucky! Do you know that?" Wartortle called out to Charizard.

Charizard responded between flamethrowers. "I know."

Venusaur spotted Wartortle across the battlefield and galloped towards him. "Wartortle, listen." Venusaur cleared his throat. "There's no way we'll get forward like this. I'm gonna dig under the tanks and take them out."

"Wait." Wartortle squinted at Charizard and his mini-army. "We have more Ditto than that."

"Yeah, the rest took after a Golbat and are fighting that way." Vensuaur pointed west with a vine.

"You need cover." The small turtle sighed. "I can weave through there and get them to you. Stay here. Don't go on your own. Don't pull anything."

"I won't."

In a flash, Wartortle had sprinted to the western front and returned with another pocket of Ditto. "One—" He was out of breath, hunched over. "—One of the Ditto wanted to stay as a Golbat. But the others—" Wartortle sucked in air. "—they—they're up for helping you out."

"Take it easy." Venusaur inhaled as he met the eyes of the Ditto as they transformed into copies of him. "Thanks, you guys. We're gonna dig under the tanks. Are you ready to go?"

The clones nodded.

"Let's go, then." Venusaur nodded to Wartortle, and Wartortle returned the gesture with a thumbs-up.

Misty had been spitting out ideas for strategies with Brock when her words slowed. "And any Rock-types can handle their Growlithe…their Ditto that are Growlithe…"

"Right." Brock folded his arms over his chest.

"…their Ditto…" Misty groaned. "The manual! Did you get the manual!"

"What?"

"The manual for the Jennies and Ditto and Joys! From the tunnels!"

Brock's mouth dropped open. "…the manual."

"We should have gotten the manual." She crawled to a blur of yellow—Psyduck—and grabbed his wing. "Psyduck, I need you to come with me."

"Sure."

"Starmie!" Misty called out to the Psychic-type on the front lines. "Stay here! Find Corsola and keep an eye on her! I'll be back." Misty stood up. "Brock, you'll do great."

"Stay safe."

"I will." As Misty scooped up her backpack, Togekiss swooped down. "Togekiss, I'm so glad to see you!"

Togekiss chirped in response, saying nothing, but her eyes were filled with worry.

"Togekiss—get anybody else who's available, who can fly—get them to the top of Pokemon Tower. It's a height advantage. I have to go. Be careful!" Misty started crawling toward the front line with Psyduck.

Togekiss whispered as she watched her trainer disappear into the fray. "…But Pokemon Tower's a grave! It shouldn't be disturbed."

Wartortle walked up to the bird's side. "There will be a lot more graves if we don't win this."

/

"Thanks, Abra." Ash let go of the Pokemon. "It should be straight ahead. We'll see you later, Abra!"

Pikachu nodded at the Psychic-type. "Let's get going."

"So this is the Bill, right? As in, the computer genius?" Ash looked around the property. There was a white cottage with dark blue shutters. There were several sheds in locations throughout a well-manicured garden. "He must be pretty modest, then."

Pikachu's tail stood up straight. "Those sheds...have a lot of electronics in them."

"You would think there'd be guards, or something."Ash stepped up the cottage's entrance, wiped his feet on a welcome mat that read "Home Sweet Home," and knocked on the door.

"Why did you knock on the door!? Ash!"

Ash's eyes went wide as he realized what he had done. He then shrugged. "Habit."