"Hey, Lauren; Sarah. Would you two like to go to the movies this weekend?" I ask both of them as I drive them home after school. The traffic light has just turned red and I stop the car, now turning to Sarah, sitting beside me, and Lauren, in the back.

Sarah turns to me, "Sure, but what will we be watching?" The light turns green again and I return my attention to the road ahead, making sure not to break any more laws since I'm not supposed to drive minors until I've had my license for one year.

I ponder that question for a bit before coming to a conclusion. "Um, since it's summer, there are a bunch of superhero movies so I don't know if you want to watch that." I turn my head slightly to face Lauren, "How about you? Will you be able to come?"

Lauren knows that I like Sarah, but I don't want her to think that she's being a third wheel. "I don't think I'll be able to. My cousin, who I haven't seen in a while, is coming to visit, so I probably can't come. Sorry." We arrive at Lauren's place and she grabs her bag and books.

Sarah turns around to face Lauren. "You sure you can't come? We haven't all hung out in a while, and with school ending, it can be a celebration," Sarah pleads with her friend as if she doesn't want to be left alone with me, saddening me on the inside.

Lauren opens the door and exits, but before closing it, she says, "I'll see what I can do, but if not, you two have fun." She closes the car door and walks up to the entrance of her house. She enters and I drive away to drop Sarah off. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I take it out to look at it. It's a text message from Lauren and it reads, "You owe me." I chuckle and put the phone back in my pocket.

Sarah looks at me confused, "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing important," I tell her. Though she's curious as to what it was, she lets it be while we chat of various things.

As I continue to drive Sarah home, everything begins to fade to black till nothing of the original dream exists. Blacker than night, no light exists in this place. The only thing that can be seen is I as I hover outside of my body. Now appearing on the ground above my body is a disorganized path of light leading straight ahead into the darkness.

My body follows this path and I just follow it as it continues upon this path. I have no control over what my body does, while I am just like a ghost.

What is this? I was having a lighthearted dream and now something weird is happening. I can't even explain what this is.

As I continue to follow, it stops moving forward and bends down to pick something up. I move closer to myself and I see that my body has picked up the ring, the very same ring I received in the mail. My body puts the ring on and an illuminated outline of a girl resembling my friend Lauren appears instantaneously ten feet in front of me.

Is that Lauren? What is she doing here?

Illuminated tears begin to drop down her face, the tears landing on the floor, creating droplets of light in this darkness. She looks up to me, not to my body, and in a desperate cry, she pleads, "Nate, please come back home!"

I immediately awake from that dream in a cold sweat and the ring burning my right index finger. With my left hand, I struggle to remove the ring off my finger as it's a perfect fit. After one strong pull, I am able to pull it off while the burning sensation quickly disappears. The ring itself is cold and my finger shows no sign of ever being burnt. The excruciating pain just seconds ago is no more now that the ring is taken off.

What was that? That dream right now was weird, and why was Lauren in it? I'm not ever going to wear this ring to sleep anymore.

Since I took off the necklace to go to sleep so it won't stab me if I turn over, I pick it up from the nightstand and unclip the chain to allow me to put the ring through it, like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Clipping the chain back together, I put the necklace around my neck and slowly take the covers off of me so as to not disturb Layla, who is sleeping besides me.

I look down to the floor to make sure Kamina isn't there so I don't accidentally step on him. Seeing as he is by the side of the bed, I step over him and quietly head towards the door. Since this is a modern room, the door doesn't creak as I open it and when I close it, I just leave a crack in the door.

Now that I'm awake, what should I do? It's six in the morning and since I normally wake up at this time, I'd normally get ready for school. TV, then? No, those two are still sleeping and it'd be rude to disturb them.

Unsure of what to do, I walk to the window and open it. The brisk morning air further awakens me and allows me to reach a feeling of inner peace. I close my eyes to the world and just take in deep, slow breaths that allow my heart to slow down. It's still beating slightly irregular from the dream.

I keep my eyes closed and say softly under my breath, "What did that dream mean? I'm in no way a believer of dreams having any meaning, but that one was just weird. And why was it Lauren that appeared and not my family? Does that mean I secretly wish to see her again?"

"Grow...lithe?" I hear coming from behind me. I turn around quickly to see that Kamina is behind me, bringing me back to reality from the confines of my mind.

He looks at me questioningly, but I get down to my knees and pet him behind the ear, much to his satisfaction. I stop petting him to close the window behind me and head to sit on the couch, patting the cushion for him to come. He hesitantly walks over but then jumps on the cushion where I was patting.

I continue to pet him behind his ear, but I start to slow down as I turn to look at the canine next to me. "I'm sorry about how I treated you yesterday. I was cruel to you when all you wanted was food," I apologize to him. Not sure if he accepted the apology, I close my eyes and pull my hand off from his fur. Surprising me, he starts to lick my hand.

He accepted the apology. I thought he wouldn't have accepted it.

I pet him behind the ear again with the hand he isn't licking. "Thank you," I tell him softly and he stops licking me, allowing me to use both hands to pet him. After doing this for a short while, I stop and get up to grab the TV remote. Kamina lies down on the couch while I turn on the TV, taking a seat beside him. So as to not disturb Layla from her sleep, I keep the volume on low and watch the news.

The sunlight awakens me as the bedroom is illuminated by its rays of light. I blink my eyes to adjust to the light while I turn over to wake up Nate. The sheets are unraveled with Nate not under them, leaving me alone on the bed.

"Nate?" I say, frightened. "Kamina, you there?" No response, frightening me even further. I jump onto the floor and pace around the room to see if they are hiding from me, no luck.

Did he leave me? No, no, no, Nate would never do that; he's not like that. Nate's a good person, yeah, he'd never do that.

I try to keep myself in denial but as the emptiness of the room encloses upon me, the feeling that he has left me becomes more apparent. I shake my head to get rid of that feeling, but the fear of being left alone this far away from home frightens me more than anything. Panic overwhelms me and I run out the bedroom.

In my panic, I see the TV turned on with Nate and Kamina on the couch. Kamina is lying down on the couch while Nate is slowly petting his fur mechanically, as if he has been doing this for quite some time.

Nate turns to his head and sees me, "Good morning. Sleep well?" He gives the very same grin that he showed me when we first met. Even though it eases me a little, it's not enough to quell the panic just seconds ago.

"Nate!" I cry in relief as I run and jump onto his chest, alarming both him and Kamina. "I thought you left me," I say as I bury myself in his chest.

Whoa, what's going on? All I was doing was petting Kamina and now Layla is panicking that I left her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I ask her as I put one arm around her small body and take notice that Kamina is now sitting on the couch instead of lying down from Layla's sudden outburst. She still has her face buried in my chest as I try to further comfort her. "You know I'd never leave you, either one of you, so why are you scared?" I pet both of them on the head to show them I'm not lying.

She looks up to me, her eyes still watery. "But you weren't in the bed and Kamina wasn't in the room when I woke up. It scared me." She doesn't go back to burying her face into my chest. She just lays her head against it instead.

Not wanting to tell either of them my weird dream and incident with the ring, I say, "I wake up early and Kamina woke up soon after me, probably from sensing movement, right?" I look at him and he nods his head. Whether I was right or not; I don't know. "So there's no need to be afraid, okay?" I soothe my voice to calm her down some more.

She doesn't change her position, only moving her head up and down, "Okay Nate, I trust you." She says that in a way as if she were strapped to bomb and she trusted me to cut either the red or the blue wire.

I shake off that feeling and say, "Since all of us are here, let's watch some TV for a little bit." I grab the remote to turn up the volume and the screen goes black.

I didn't break it, did I?

Freeing me from potentially paying for the TV, the camera pans over to a stage with a large "J&J" adorning the back wall. "Presenting their new line of clothing," a voice announcer says as spotlights cross the stage, "please welcome Jesse and James to the floor!" The spotlights form up and shine upon two people entering from the right side of the stage. The man is dressed in a black tux and has blue, spiky hair while the woman is in a red dress that's the same as her long, red hair.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I mutter under my breath. As I say that, they stand in the middle of the stage with their backs together, and with their free hand, they cover half of their face.

Doing what I feared most about this world, Jesse starts off with the start of the Team Rocket motto.

Prepare for trouble!

Make it double!

"Yeah, I was right."

To protect the world from lack of fashion!

To clothe all Pokémon within our nation!

To express the styles of the beau monde!

To extend our reach to the regions beyond!

Jessie!

James!

J and J, start at the dawn of day!

Come shop here now, else go and play!

Out of nowhere, a small boy drops in from above dressed in an off white suit that matches his hair. A gold coin shines on his forehead.

Meowth!
That's right!

At the end of their skit, all of them bow. Jesse is the first to get up and she puts the microphone up to her mouth, "Everyone, please come to our grand opening in Cherrygrove City. We're located North of the PokéCenter." They quickly bow again and start walking off the stage.

The voice announcer speaks again, "You heard it folks, J & J have started a clothing line for your beloved Pokémon. For only today, the first ten customers get fifty percent off their purchase. Get there, now!" The commercial ends by showing a map of where the shop is located in regards to the PokéCenter and a phone number to call them.

Well then, I'm still suspicious, but at least they didn't say they were Team Rocket. Maybe we can check that store out for both of them, they may want something. Also, I need to get at least one more pair of clothes, this pair won't last forever especially since I'm currently walking.

I grab the remote and mute the volume as the commercials keep on playing. "You two want to go check out that shop later? They may have something you'll like," I ask both of them. They both look at each other and Kamina mutters something in their language to Layla.

Layla translates for me, "He doesn't want anything but he's curious as to why you had a bad feeling about the commercial." I turn to Kamina and he looks at me inquisitively.

"Oh, it was nothing." I turn my attention back to Layla, "And you didn't answer my question: do you want to go to the shop or not?"

Since she is now back to normal, she positions her body away from me. Now on my lap, she says in a voice barely audible, "Yeah, I'd like to go." Her tail to her side, she jumps off my lap and onto the floor.

"Well, that decides it," I say as I stand up. I walk over to the entrance to the bedroom but before I enter, I look to both of them, "We'll be leaving in about five minutes. I need to get ready." Upon entering the room, I smell my shirt and notice how it doesn't smell too bad.

I need to get another set of clothing soon and go get this cleaned. One pair of clothing isn't going to last forever.

Above the nightstand are where the Pokéballs are at and I pick them up to turn them over. I roll the dial down to "3" for the amount of willpower they have. "I don't want to have slaves," I mumble to myself.

I pocket the Pokéballs and grab the envelope of money next to them. I also fling my bag onto my back and head out of the room where Layla and Kamina are waiting for me.

"Okay, I'm ready," I tell them both. With Kamina to the right of me and Layla on my shoulder, we leave the room.

"Damn, even with that promotional commercial, no one has even come to our shop," I complain to Jessie, who's standing behind the register. The racks of clothing filling the shop haven't seen a single person browse through the store.

The crimson-haired Jessie, wearing a typical store clerk's uniform with "J&J" embroidered onto her shoulder gives me a no shit look, "Well, what did you expect? People pouring in when we opened? The only reason we set up shop here is because the boss told us to." She looks flustered, angry after her rant.

I hang my head a little, "Yeah, but it would be nice to see some customers." I look towards the glass door entrance, only to be disappointed to see no one heading in this direction.

"Don't expect any. Clothing for Pokémon is something trainers don't pay for," she says, a little less angry than last time.

I look to the entrance once again, only to see a young man with a Growlithe and Pikachu coming to the store. "Jessie, I'll take the register while you man the floor. A customer is coming here." I'm giddy that a customer is actually coming to our store, even though we're supposed to be on a mission.

She looks out the window and confirms that my statement is true. "Fine, I'll go greet our customer." She heads over to the entrance while I go behind the counter and to the register.

The young man enters with his Pikachu on his shoulder and his Growlithe following right behind him and Jessie greets them right away, "Welcome to J&J's clothing shop. How may I be of service to you?" Her smile is fake, but her voice is enthusiastic.

The woman from the commercial with long crimson hair, Jessie, greets me, "Welcome to J&J's clothing shop. How may I be of service to you?" She appears very enthusiastic to serve me as it appears I'm the only one shopping here at the moment.

I quickly glance around the room to see another employee, James, from the commercial standing behind the register. "My Pikachu here would like a set of clothing for herself," I tell Jessie as I point to Layla, who's on my shoulder.

Whether she's surprised or not by my statement, she doesn't show it, instead, she says, "Sir, your Pikachu will need to be in her humanoid form to try on the clothing."

Layla tenses up on my shoulder but I reassure her, "Don't worry, I won't be there to watch you change." I now look to Jessie in front of me, "If you don't mind, can you find clothing that'll look good on her? I'm not too good at picking out clothing for women."

She nods her head, "No problem, sir. Now if your Pikachu will follow me, I'll help her out right away." Though she looks scared, she reluctantly jumps onto the floor and follows Jessie to the fitting room.

With Layla getting fitted by Jessie, I look around the shop to find a chair to sit on. After a quick walk around the store, I find a chair in the shoe area and take a seat. Kamina paces around uneasily while I'm sitting.

"Kamina, let me tell you something." He looks up to me as he stops pacing around in front of me. I continue with what I'm going to tell him, "Whenever a woman shops for clothing, you might as well rest. Lie down, go to sleep. This can take a while; no, it will take a while, so just rest. Pacing around is just going to wear you out, okay?" After listening to what I have said, he lies down and rests his head on the floor but keeps one eye open.

With Kamina no longer pacing around me, it allows me to rest in the chair while the countless minutes pass by and we wait for Layla to come back. Before dozing off into my subconscious, Jessie comes to awaken me, "Your Pikachu is ready, but she wants you to see it first."

I yawn as I get out of my chair while Kamina gets up on all fours and gets to my side. "Can you show me the way to her, please?" I ask her, and she obliges.

"Sure thing," she says as she shows me the way. "You should've told me your Pikachu talks. I didn't know whose voice it was until I saw the necklace on her." She stops walking and presents me a door, "Anyways, she's in here. She only wants you to enter though."

I thank her before I knock on the door, "Layla, it's me, Nate."

"Come in," she says shyly behind the door.

I look down to Kamina, "Wait up for me since she only wants me inside, okay?" He sits down while I open the door to go inside before closing it.

The piles of clothing she went through doesn't astound me nor does how spotless the mirror is. The thing that catches my eye immediately is Layla, in her humanoid form, wearing clothing. She is wearing a black, long-sleeve blouse that accentuates her body while she wears a pair of form-fitting blue jeans. Her tail hangs loosely, swinging slightly to and fro, letting me know they accommodated the jeans to have a hole for a tail. She isn't barefoot, as she is wearing a pair of black and grey sneakers. Finally, in her hair is a small bow tie by her right ear.

She is looking down to the ground, her hands together close to her abdomen. "You look very pretty Layla," I tell her to relieve her of her nervousness.

She looks up to me, her eyes sparkling at my compliment. "You really mean that?" she asks me, unsurely, but I know that brought up her mood greatly.

I grin to her, "I wouldn't lie to you, would I?" She shakes her head and I continue on, "Let's go outside and show everyone how you look, okay?" She nods and I open the door to allow her outside though she keeps her head down.

She's like those shy girls in almost any anime harem I've seen. She really reminds me of Shiori Shiomiya from "The World God Only Knows."

Jessie looks at me while I follow Layla out, "She looks really pretty, right?" Layla holds her head up as she appears to like being complimented.

"She does look pretty," I tell her. I now ask Layla, "Do you like what you're wearing?"

She quickly nods, "I like it, Nate." Though her head is still hanging down a little, I can see a smile on her face.

"Well, that settles it then," I say aloud before turning to Jessie. "How much will it be?" I ask her.

Jessie tilts her head and puts her hand under her chin, "Um, follow me to the register. James will give you a price and since you're the first one today, you get fifty percent off of your purchase."

"Awesome," I say as I follow Jessie to the counter while Kamina and Layla are right behind me. At the register, Jessie pulls a slip of paper out of her pocket and gives it to James.

He looks over the paper and pulls out a calculator, "Okay, your total would have been sixty-five hundred bills, but it's now thirty-two hundred and fifty bills." I pull out the envelope of money and count four thousand bills and hand it to him. "Out of four thousand so I'll give you back..." He mentally calculates that.

"You'll be giving me back seven hundred and fifty bills," I tell him. Simple math like that always came easy to me.

"Right," he says as he puts in the money I gave him into the register and pulls out the seven fifty for me. "Here you go," he says as he hands me my change.

"Thank you," I tell him. Now turning to Layla and Kamina, I say, "You both ready to go?"

Kamina barks and Layla now holding her head up "Yeah, let's go."

As we head out towards the exit, both Jessie and James thank us, "Thank you for your purchase!"

Just holding my hand up to say bye, we leave the store and into the bright daylight with a cool ocean breeze around us.

"So it appears that Nate Mendoza has gone to our PokéClothing shop in Cherrygrove," I say to myself as I get off the phone with Jessie. "I'm glad he likes our shop, 'cause there may be a bunch more sprouting up anytime." Looking to the guard standing at the door, "Can you bring Nia here?" I ask him. He obliges and leaves the room, leaving me alone.

On my desk is a copy of the regional paper, Johto. Now and on the front cover in large, menacing print, 'Team Rocket Rising Again?' and right under it in small print, 'Learn more on page 3'. I turn to the third page and quickly read over the article and laugh how the media incorrectly portrayed the events in Violet City.

Those people that were killed were former members of Team Rocket trying to leak info to the officials. Of course we'd kill them and they were in no way innocent, they did their fair share of thievery and murder also.

I put down the paper as someone is knocking on the door. "Come in," I say and a young girl around the age of sixteen enters. She's tall for her age, at around five foot ten inches with long, blonde hair. She's wearing the Team Rocket uniform of a white shirt with a large 'R' and black pants. After coming here to this world and suffering amnesia, she'd be the perfect person to convert to Team Rocket's way of things.

"Nia, you'll be going to Violet City to support the Rocket base over there due to recent events. You'll be going undercover after you check in at the base," I tell her and she nods immediately.

"I understand, sir," she says, and leaves the room while the guard from before comes in. I call him over and present him a photo of Nate, "Copy this photo, front and back, and send it to all Rocket bases in Johto. There are instructions on the back of this photo for the bases to follow." He takes the photo and leaves the room while I lean back in my chair, allowing me to close my eyes to rest for a short while. "I've let him be at peace for long enough."