(A/N: I should clear something up to avoid any confusion. In Pokemon, whether a Pokemon is a boy or a girl, the humans always refer to Pokemon as "it", even if the gender has been confirmed. I too will be following this when it comes to dialogue, but when it comes to writing outside of dialogue, if a Pokemon's gender has been revealed, such as Pikachu's, I will be referring to them as "him" or "her". However, if the Pokemon is genderless, like Staryu, or if the gender has never been revealed, like Brock's Crobat, then I too will refer to them as "it". Hope that clears up any gender confusion references to the Pokemon in the story.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 3: Cotton Town

The three Trainers didn't stop running until they were sure they had put sufficient distance between themselves and Jigglypuff. They didn't have time to sleep the day away, nor did they fancy having marker drawn all over their faces.

They really didn't know why Jigglypuff kept following them. They fell asleep every time it sang its magical tune. Did it hope that one day it would get lucky and they would be able to stay awake throughout the whole song, or was it just in denial? Maybe it had even become personal, and it was determine to make them listen to the song in full, no matter how many attempts it took.

"You think we lost it?" Misty asked, breathing heavily.

"I hope so," Ash replied. "I really wish Jigglypuff would just sing a different tune."

Something caught Brock's attention, and he held his hand up to his ear to listen better. "Hold up, you guys, do you hear something?"

They listened as well and heard it too. It sounded like someone snoring. They followed the sound, and eventually came across a man in a white lab coat, sleeping soundly on the ground. Based on the drawings on his face, it seemed he'd had the misfortune of running into Jigglypuff before it crossed their path.

"Looks like one of Jigglypuff's victims," Ash noted. "Should we wake him up?"

"Well, we can't just leave him out here," Misty pointed out.

Brock nodded in agreement. "Especially with that Fearow around." He bent down and shook the man. "Hey, mister, wake up. Hey, mister." He stood up, shaking his head. "No good, he's really out. Jigglypuff must have put him to sleep just recently."

Ash took out a PokeBall. "Well, I know one surefire way to wake him up. Totodile."

The ball burst open, and a small blue reptile appeared and began dancing around merrily. "To, To, Totodile!"

"Totodile, use you Water Gun on this guy, but just enough to wake him up."

"Todi." He sprayed a stream of water into the man's face.

The man's eyes snapped open and he sprang to his feet. He immediately dropped to his knees and began repeatedly bowing. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, forgive me! I swear I'm trying to find a way to fix this!"

The three Trainers were surprised. They weren't sure if he thought they were someone else, or if he was still caught up in a dream he had been having.

Misty sweat-dropped. "Um, I think you're mistaking us for someone else, sir."

"Yeah, my name's Ash, and this is my partner, Pikachu."

"Pika."

My name's Misty, and this is Togepi."

"And I'm Brock. Sorry we had to wake you up like that."

The man blinked. "You mean… you're not out to get me?" He sighed deeply. "Oh, thank goodness. I thought you were someone from town."

Ash cocked his head to the side. "Someone from town? You mean Cotton Town?"

The man wiped the water from his face. "Yes. I came into the forest to hide, and ran into that Jigglypuff. Oh, where are my manners. I'm Professor Stevens. Thank you for waking me up… and for the bath."

Ash rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "Yeah, sorry about that, but you weren't waking up otherwise. Totodile, return."

Professor Stevens watched as the big jaw Pokemon was drawn back into the PokeBall. Then his gaze fell onto Pikachu and the mechanical hands holding it. "Um, excuse me for asking, but what's up with those things on your Pikachu?"

Ash frowned down at his friend. "That's kind of a long story. We're having some trouble getting them off."

Professor Stevens raised an eyebrow at that, but didn't question him further. "May I?" he asked, holding out his hands.

Ash hesitated before holding Pikachu out to him. The professor examined the mechanical hands for a few moments before nodding. "I think I'll be able to help you. Come on back to my lab, and I'll get them off."

"Your lab?" Brock repeated. "Then Cotton Town isn't that far from here?"

The professor smiled. "Oh no, not at all. Follow me."

He led them through the forest, and they eventually came across a path. They followed it, and were soon able to see houses in the distance beyond the trees. It was good to see civilization again after being in the wilderness for so long.

Yet as they walked along, the three Trainers couldn't help but notice that Professor Stevens seemed to be rather nervous. He kept looking around, as if afraid that he would suddenly be attacked by someone or something.

They exchanged uncertain looks before Brock finally asked, "Um, excuse me, sir, but is something wrong?"

The professor sweat-dropped and looked back at them nervously. "Wrong? No, of course not. Nothing's wrong. Um, so what brings you to Cotton Town? We're a small town that's pretty much hidden from the rest of the Johto region, so we don't usually get visitors."

Ash smiled sheepishly. "Well, we actually got lost, and have been going in the wrong direction for some time now."

The professor nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see. Well, I can show you how to get to wherever it is you're going once I take care of your Pikachu. Oh, uh, this way."

Rather than leading them into town, he remained in the forest, walking along the town's borders. The Trainers weren't sure where he was going, but they followed without question until they came to what seemed to be a warehouse just outside of the town.

"Would you mind waiting here, please?" he asked, looking embarrassed. "I'll be right back."

To their surprise, he jumped into a bush, sneaking towards the facility, remaining hidden in the shrubbery. The Trainers exchanged questioning looks as they watched the professor sneak along.

"I think this guy has a few screws loose," Brock commented.

Reaching the warehouse, the professor's arm poked out of the bush and began pressing buttons on a control panel. The door opened, and the professor sneaked inside.

"What's up with that?" Ash wondered. "Some sort of secret entrance?"

"Pikachu?"

Sticking his head out the door, Professor Stevens waved them over before ducking inside again. The others hesitantly followed, wondering if they were making a mistake as they entered the warehouse.

"Sorry about that," Professor Stevens told them. "I'm not the most popular person in town right now. It's better if no one sees me. But come on, let's take care of your Pikachu."

He led them through the warehouse, and the Trainers looked around at their surroundings. The place did indeed appear to be a laboratory of some sort, but it looked like a hurricane had come through recently, and the place was still in the process of being cleaned up. When they asked the professor about it, he hesitated before replying that it that it had been an experiment that had gone wrong.

"You see," he explained as he set to work on the mechanical hands holding Pikachu," this facility is a branch of Silph Company. We do a lot of experiments and create many inventions to help the public. Sometimes things go wrong, but hey, that's the result of progress."

"I've heard of Silph Company," said Brock. "They have a major headquarters in Saffron City."

Professor Stevens nodded. "This place was chosen to provide a quieter more secure location for certain experiments. Unfortunately, my last experiment has caused the town quite a bit of trouble, which is why no one really likes me right now. Ah, got it!"

The mechanical hands opened, and Pikachu was released from their grip. Ash beamed and held his arms out to his little friend. "Pikachu!"

"Pika, Pi!" the electric mouse Pokemon cried, jumping into his arms.

Ash smiled at the professor. "Thanks a lot, Professor Stevens."

A smirk crept up the professor's face as he twirled around the screwdriver he was holding. "Glad I could help." The smile slowly slipped from his face, and he turned away. "It's the one good thing I could do."

Finding his words strange, Ash exchanged a bewildered look with his friends. "What's up with that?" he wondered out loud, voicing the thoughts of the other two.

Exchanging his screwdriver for a pencil, he turned back to the Trainers with a forced smile. "Now, if you'll let me take a look at your map, I'll mark the path you'll need to take to get to your destination."

"Thanks," Ash muttered, somewhat suspiciously, "but we don't need to leave right away."

Brock nodded. "Yeah, we need to restock a bit, and pay a visit to the Pokemon Center."

"And I've been dying to sleep in a real bed," Misty added.

Professor Stevens frowned. "I see. Well, I can show you where the nearest shop is, but I would advice that you leave after that."

"How come?" Brock asked.

The professor sighed. "Lets just say that this isn't the best time to visit Cotton Town. In fact, several families have already fled due to…" He hesitated, then shook his head. "It's just best that you get what you need and leave."

Before they could question him further, a window shattered as a rock went through the glass. Professor Stevens yelped and crouched down, covering his head as angry voices rose up from the outside. Ash and his friends ran to the window to find that a group of people had gathered outside. They were shouting and waving their fists, some looking ready to tear the warehouse apart

"It's all your fault!" shouted a member of the angry mob.

"You've doomed us all!" cried another.

"Why did you have to play with forces beyond your understanding?"

"No one wants you here anymore! Get out!"

Misty stared at the angry mob in bewilderment. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," said Brock, "but these people sure are angry about something."

Behind them, Professor Stevens remained crouched down in the fetal position with his eyes closed and his hands over his head as he chanted. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

The three Trainers stared at him before a determined look crossed Ash's face. "Come on, we've got to stop this."

His friends nodded in agreement, and they hurried outside. The crowd paid them no mind as they continued to shout at the professor cowering inside. Another angry townsfolk picked up another rock and threw it at the broken window.

"Pikachu, Thundershock!" Ash ordered.

"Pikachu!" A bolt of electricity was fired from the electric mouse Pokemon, shattering the rock to bits. The angry townsfolk turned their attention to the three Trainers, not happy that they were interfering.

"Hey, get out of here, you kids!" a member of the mob demanded.

"You get out of here!" Ash shot back. "You're destroying private property!"

"He deserves it! That man doomed us all with his little science experiment!"

Ash just growled, refusing to back down. Behind him, Misty and Brock stood at the ready, prepared to send out their Pokemon if they had to. It didn't come to that though as a siren was heard, and a blue-haired policewoman rode up on her motorcycle. Ash and his friends immediately recognized Officer Jenny. Family names, appearances, and occupations certainly went hand in hand with law enforcement, and this Jenny was undoubtedly related in some way to the countless other Officer Jennys they had met in their travels.

Hopping off her motorcycle, she stood between the Trainers and the angry mob with her hands out. "Alright, alright, break it up, everyone! You people," she looked at the angry mob, "you have no business being here. Go on home and take care of whatever you need to, just stay away from here."

The mob did not look willing to comply. "But, Officer Jenny," one of them complained, "you know what he did."

"Yes, I do," she argued back, "and it was a terrible accident. But that's all that it was, an accident. Now, all of you get out of here before another accident happens and someone gets hurt."

Grumbling, the crowd began to disperse. Officer Jenny let out a relieved sigh and lowered her arms as the three Trainers looked on, two in admiration, one with a dopey look on his face.

"Officer Jenny is so great," Brock awed dreamily. "No matter which one it is, I always love to see her take charge."

Finally turning to the three of them, the policewoman placed her hands on her hips. "This is a pretty small town. I know just about every person in it, but I haven't seen you three before."

Ash shook his head. "No, Officer Jenny, we just got lost in the woods and ended up here."

"I see," she replied, throwing a leg over her bike. "Well, you kids had best move along, and I do mean from this town. Times are dangerous here, and I wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Without another word, she sped off on her bike. Completely confused, Ash and Misty shared as look. "What did she mean, we could get hurt?" the latter asked.

"I don't know," Brock muttered, still blushing profoundly, "but Officer Jenny can hurt me anytime."

A vein throbbed in Misty's temple as she impatiently gave his ear a yank. "Focus!"

Ash motioned for them to go back inside, and they went back into the warehouse. They found Professor Stevens hiding under a table, shaking like a leaf, and they sweat-dropped.

Finally taking notice of them, Professor Stevens poked his head out. "Are they gone?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, they're gone. What was that about?"

"Pikachu?"

"Toge, Toge, Piiii."

Sighing, the professor crawled out from under the table. "That was the reason why I suggested you leave. Cotton Town has become a dangerous place."

Misty cocked her head to the side. "Because of those people?"

He shook his head. "Because of me, of what I unleashed."

Brock crossed his arms, not seeing what could have possibly stirred up such an angry mob. "And what is that?"

Sighing, Professor Stevens adjusted his glasses. "I might as well show you; the world will find out eventually."

He motioned for them to follow, and he led them further through the lab. The Trainers couldn't help but notice that the farther in they ventured, the more rundown the lab looked. No, not rundown, but destroyed, as if a violent-natured Pokemon had rampaged through it.

They eventually came to a sealed door that required a code to enter. Professor Stevens punched in the code, and the door slid open. "This is where all the projects are kept."

The Trainers entered the room and gasped at what they saw. Various inventions and technology they had never seen filled the room. Most of it was broken in some way, but a good deal was still intact.

"What is all this?" Brock awed.

The professor walked them through the room, pointing out a few things. "Like I said, these are different projects Silph Company has been working on. Most of them are prototypes, but they still work. Like this," he picked up what looked like a handheld telescope, "this is the Silph Scope. With it, you can see through illusions Pokemon might create, or even see them if they turn invisible."

"Hey, that'd come in handy if you were trying to catch a Ghost Pokemon," Ash noted.

The professor nodded. "If you want to catch Pokemon," he picked up what seemed to be a PokeBall with the letter M on it, "this is what we call the MasterBall. It will automatically capture any Pokemon without fail, and without needing to weaken it first."

"Whoa, really?" Brock awed.

Ash, however, was frowning. "That doesn't seem very fair. There's no challenge or need to prove yourself if you can just capture any Pokemon with no effort."

The professor wobbled his head. "Well, it's only a prototype. It has a one out of 65,536 chance of failing. So really, it has a 99.994 percent chance of automatically capturing any Pokemon without fail."

Ash looked at him with hooded eyes. "Oh, well if it's only a 99.994 percent chance…"

His sarcasm seemed to go unnoticed by the professor as he pointed to a multicolored ball. "If you want to make catching Pokemon easier, you could use this. This is the Pester Ball. It will temporarily stun a Pokemon, making it easier to capture. Or it could be used as a quick getaway if you need to escape from a Pokemon that's attacking you."

"Hey, what's this?" Misty asked, pointing at what could only be described as a cart of some kind.

Professor Stevens' face lit up. "Ah, that is the ZERO-ONE all-terrain safari vehicle. It's meant to explore different places in the world. It can acclimate itself to several different environments by using wheels, inflatable pontoons, and jet thrusters to travel across the ground, in the water, and even through the air. The ZERO-ONE has no steering mechanism. Oh, and this goes along with it." He patted what looked like a doorframe. "It's called the goal gate. It's not finished yet, but this baby will eventually allow you to use the ZERO-ONE to teleport from one goal gate to the another."

Ash's eyes practically popped out of his head. "Whoa, really?"

"Pika?" Pikachu marveled.

A chuckle escaped the professor; it was obvious he enjoyed talking about his work. "If you think that's impressive, just take a look at this." He walked over to a massively large machine that seemed to be built into the wall. "This is a time machine. It doesn't work yet, but I'm hoping to find a way to duplicate Celebi's ability to travel through time."

Misty laughed nervously. "That would be quite a feat."

The smile slipped from the professor's face. "Yes, well, unfortunately, I've learned that just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. Sadly, I never appreciated this philosophy until it was too late."

Ash was lost. "What do you mean?"

Sighing, Professor Stevens led them over to a giant machine that was very clearly broken. He placed a hand on it and gave the three Trainers a remorseful look. "This is an invention of mine, and the cause for all the town's problems."

Brock looked the machine up and down, unable to figure out its purpose. "What does it do?"

Another sigh escaped the professor. "It's a machine that's meant to open a doorway to another dimension."

"Another dimension!?" Ash exclaimed.

"Pikachu!?"

"You can do that?" Misty marveled.

The professor nodded. "There are other dimensions besides this one. Some are parallel universes, some are completely different. There are even some Pokemon in this world that originated from other dimensions."

"Like the Unown," said Brock, recalling their encounter with the alphabet Pokemon.

Professor Stevens nodded again. "I was first inspired to build this baby when I caught a glimpse of one of these other dimensions in my computer several years ago."

"What?" Ash glanced at the broken computer hooked up to the equally broken machine. "You saw a whole other dimension in your computer?"

The professor shook his head. "No, just a doorway leading to one. Actually, my Porygon discovered it, but it disappeared soon after, leaving no trace of it behind." He made a fist. "But I know what I saw, even if no one would believe me, and so I dedicated my life to trying to find that dimension again." His enthusiasm slowly died down. "I should have just forgotten what I saw that day."

Brock was getting a bad feeling, and almost regretted asking, "What happened?"

Removing his glasses, the professor rubbed his eyes. "With the help of my Pokemon, Porygon and Porygon 2, I attempted to build a machine that could create a portal to the dimension I had discovered. And after many years of trying, I was able to do so."

He lowered his hand and put his glasses back on. "But I was unable to keep the doorway open. It just wouldn't stabilize, and it would collapse after a few seconds. I kept the results of my experiments to myself, because I didn't want anyone else to take the credit, not after they spent years laughing at me."

He gave the Trainers a series look. "Then, one day, something happened that I hadn't anticipated." He paused for dramatic affect. "Something came through."

Shocked gasps escaped the Trainers and Pikachu as they stared at the professor in disbelief. "No way," Brock marveled. "What was it?"

Sighing, the professor dropped down in a chair. "A monstrous creature unlike anything I had ever seen before. It looked like a demon straight out of Hell. I tried not to judge it by its appearance, but it was as wicked as it was terrifying."

"Was it a Pokemon?" Ash asked.

Professor Stevens shook his head. "No. It was a creature similar to a Pokemon, but not a Pokemon. It was a Digital Monster, or Digimon for short."

"A Digimon…"

"Pika, Pika."

The professor nodded shamefully. "This Digimon, he said his name was Devimon, and he's pure evil. He attacked my Pokemon and caused the destruction you see in my lab. Then he declared that he was the new ruler of this world, and that he would start by taking over the town."

"Didn't anyone try to stop him?" Misty asked, unable to believe that anyone would just accept this Devimon's leadership.

"Of course!" Professor Stevens exclaimed. "Many of the townsfolk are Pokemon Trainers, and Officer Jenny even had her entire Growlith attack force fight, but Devimon is so powerful that he easily defeated anyone who challenged him. No, I fear nothing short of a Legendary Pokemon will be able to stand up to Devimon."

Brock crossed his arms, thinking about the various Legendaries they had encountered on their journeys. "A Legendary Pokemon, huh?"

Misty seemed to be of similar mind. "Too bad we can't call Lugia or Celebi."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, "or Mewtwo."

Both Brock and Misty immediately clamped their hands over his mouth. "Ixnay on the 'ewtwoM-nay," the former whispered, reminding him that they were not supposed to let Mewtwo's existence be known.

It seemed that they were safe, as the professor seemed to have assumed that he had said 'Mew too', and his eyes widened in amazement. "You've seen Lugia, Celebi, and Mew? That's pretty impressive."

Misty immediately ran with this, trying to take the focus off Ash's slip of the tongue. "Oh, we've seen a lot more than that. We've seen an Entei, a Suicune, the Legendary Birds, the Eon Duo-"

"Pikachu and I even saw a Ho-Oh our first day together," Ash added. "Though I didn't know what it was at the time."

Professor Stevens' eyes were wide with astonishment. "That's… quite a resume. Even the greatest of Trainers will be lucky to even get a glimpse of a single Legendary Pokemon."

Smirking, Ash arrogantly rubbed his finger beneath his nose. "Must be because I'm the chosen one." His friends all sweat-dropped.

The professor continued to look impressed, but then he sighed sadly. "It doesn't matter. Even if a Legendary Pokemon does eventually defeat Devimon, I'm afraid he'll cause for too much damage by then. He doesn't plan on stopping with Cotton Town. This is just the beginning. He's going to make an example out of us."

Brock didn't like the sound of that. "What does that mean?"

The professor glanced at the clock nervously. "He gave us one week to decide whether or not we would accept him as our master, otherwise he would kill us all. Either way, it will teach other cities and towns that obeying him is the best course of action."

Ash held up a fist. "We're not going to let that happen. We'll find a way to stop him."

Professor Stevens just shook his head again. "I'm afraid it's too late. Tonight is the deadline."

But Ash wasn't deterred. "Then we still have time. You with me, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

Smirking, he looked back at the professor. "I need to use your phone."

Unbeknownst to them, three pairs of eyes stared down at the group from up in the air duct. Having come crashing through the roof of the warehouse, Team Rocket had made their way through the facility, taking cover when the professor and his guests had arrived.

"What do you think?" Jessie asked her companions.

James was smiling broadly. "It sounds like this Devimon would make an excellent addition to Team Rocket. We should capture it for the boss."

Meowth, however, seemed less enthusiastic. "I don't mean to rain on your parade, but how are you plannin' ta catch t'at t'ing?"

The two humans blinked. They hadn't exactly considered that. If Devimon wasn't a Pokemon, they wouldn't be able to catch it like they would a wild Pokemon.

Jessie smirked. "We'll leave it to the twerps. Once they weaken Devimon, we'll swoop in and snatch it."

"And take it straight to the boss," James added, catching on.

Meowth grinned as well. "And maybe we can even nab Pikachu too."

The three villains chuckled gleefully.

(A/N: And it looks like Ash and his friends are once again in the middle of something much bigger than them. Kind of makes you wonder, is Ash a hero, or a trouble magnet? Probably both. But lets not forget about the DigiDestined. We'll be getting back to them in the next chapter. And what kind of trouble is Team Rocket going to get themselves in? You know they will. There's a lot more to come, so stay tuned.)