AGAINST ALL ODDS
Chapter 2: Who is Misha?

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Meowth gasped some air. He never had this dream before. Not even the 
dream when he was abandoned. He looked around. Jessie and James were 
still sleeping in their sleeping bags. He felt a little tired again. So, 
forgetting that he ever woke up, he dozed off back to sleep.
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"Get up Meowth!!! We've got to capture that Pikachu!" Jessie yelled at 
Meowth.
"No.." Meowth moaned as he turned over, ignoring Jessie.
"Meowth, are you feeling well?" James asked.

Before James could say that, Meowth went back to sleep snoring.

"What's wrong with him?" Jessie asked.
"Maybe he didn't get much sleep last night." James replied.
"... Should we wake him?"
"I think it's best just to leave him alone. He might have had a 
nightmare or something."
"I guess you're right."

Meowth knew that Jessie and James would be working together without him. 
He needed rest after his nightmare last night. He was having trouble 
getting back to sleep, but something told him that he needed to get up. 
That nightmare... when he was young. It still haunted him this morning.

About what happened in the crowd. Is that how he got abandoned? Because 
he got lost? Because he ran away from... Misha? He has never seen her 
before, but only in his dreams.

'Who is Misha? Is she my sista?' Meowth thought. 'Could dat dream be 
true? Is dat how I got abandoned? I was actually lost?'

Jessie and James were quite concerned of what their Pokemon friend was 
thinking right now. They both noticed that he was shaking.

"Meowth, are you okay?" Jessie asked.
"I'm fine." Meowth said in a hoarse voice.
"You don't sound fine..." James said.
"Look, when I'm fine, I'm fine!" Meowth exclaimed.
"You don't have to scream!" Jessie said.
"Shouldn't you and James be capturing dat Pikachu?"
"Why you little sack of-" Jessie started.
"Easy, Jess." James said while grabbing her shoulders. "I think Meowth 
is kind of... cranky this morning."

"I had a nightmare." Meowth whispered. "It kinda jogged my memory in dis 
nightmare. It took place in my past. Da past dat I'll never foiget."

Jessie and James looked at each other. Their friend was in pain. His 
past came to him in his dream... which came to him in a nightmare. 
Pulling away from Misha, running to the baseball field, being away from 
home. He couldn't escape it. He closed his eyes, and went back into a 2 
hour sleep.

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After Jessie and James failed (once again) to capture Pikachu, they came 
to check on Meowth. Meowth was still asleep. The two partners knew 
better than to wake him up, but he needed to sometime. Jessie 
volunteered to go wake Meowth up.

"Meowth? Meowth, wake up." Jessie said as she shook him.
"Huh? Wha? I'm up, I'm up."

Meowth got up on his paws and shook himself out of sleepiness. He looked 
pretty tired, but he was in the mood into waking up.

"Now Meowth, if you want to go back to sleep, you can do that. We'll 
battle those twerps later." Jessie said.
"Oh no. I'm fine. I can get up widout trouble at all!" Meowth replied.

Jessie and James exchanged glances. Then James replied,

"... If you want to talk about your dream, you can tell us anytime. That 
is, if you feel like it."
 
Meowth was silent. He hung his head. He wanted to talk about it, but it 
was hard to explain it to his two best friends. His memory was a little 
fuzzy, but he was able to tell Jessie and James the vision he saw that 
came to him in a dream.

"All right. My dream... was like my past."

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"Let me get this straight. You think that your dream was reality of what 
happened to you when you were young?" Jessie asked in concern.

"Yes. I dunno why, but somethin' tells me that it'll come back to me. 
Only, in a real form."

"... Meowth, you're starting to remember terrible memories of when you 
were so little. If Misha still exists, then that would prove you right 
about your point of view." James said.

"Yeah. But if was true... what 'bout my mudder?
"Your mother still might remember you." Jessie said.
"Yeah. She'll always remember you even though you ran away from the 
crowd." James also said.

"... I hope." Meowth said sadly.
"Meowth, don't talk like that. You're only going make yourself feel 
worse." Jessie added.
"Do you just want to continue to capture some Pokemon? You know, if you 
feel like it for a change." James finished.
"Yeah. I guess. It might keep my mind togetta." Meowth said.

'I just hope I can find out more 'bout my dream...' he thought.

And he will....


TO BE CONTINUED...