Pokémon: A Space Odyssey The Epic Space Drama by Matt The story of two unlikely heroes who have to make the most of total isolation in the dark of space Disclaimer: You really don’t think I own Pokémon, do you? Well, I don’t. Chapter One Blastoff From Mossdeep The glistening water from the vast Hoenn Ocean reflected against the large steel structure that was the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven rocket ship that was due for launch that morning. After years of preparation, Mossdeep City’s space agency had finally set up a human and Pokémon deep space mission. Most other missions involved computer controlled technology which would collect samples of dust and Moon Stones from space nebulas. History was being made on this glorious day. Jess laced up his boots as he prepared for his jettison into deep space. He exhumed a deep, sad sigh. ‘Why am I doing this?’ he asked himself as he looked into his mirror. A young man of twenty six looked back at him, eyes tired from months of extreme training and preparation. His brown hair fell carelessly across his right eye. Why WAS he doing this? Was it because of his father, who had pressured him his whole life to join the Space Academy? Who told him that the planet was for losers and only winners could light up the sky? Who died days before his eighteenth birthday, guilt tripping Jess into enrolling in the Space Academy, putting the final nail in his interstellar coffin? Who knows? All Jess knew now was that he was not getting out of blasting away from the only world he had ever known…and the only girl he had ever loved… He glanced away from his reflection to a photograph taped to the frame. A photograph of a beautiful girl. She had soft features amplified by her stunningly blonde hair. Her innocent smile gazed into his harsh eyes. He eyed the message she had written on the picture. “To my cosmonaut, may the stars dim in your illuminating presence. Love, Sophia.” He pulled the picture off of his mirror and looked at it closely. It would be years before he would see her again. He sighed again, and slid the photo into his pocket. His hand brushed past a Pokéball, containing his only friend who would accompany him into space. A Charmander who he had raised from birth. He would have loved to bring the first Pokémon he had received, a Charizard, but he was forbidden to. The spacecraft wasn’t large enough to support a Charizard, so he had to bring the son of his beloved first Pokémon. Jess remembered what his father had said the day he brought home his first Charmander. His father had been home that day, on leave from the Army. He received a Charmander from Professor Elm, after he had given a seminar on Pokémon training in the Mossdeep auditorium. Jess asked the professor if he could have a Cyndaquil of his very own. Elm had told him that all of the Pokémon from his native Johto region had been given away. But so that Jess didn’t go home empty handed, Elm gave him a Charmander. Jess was ecstatic, and ran all the way home to tell his father. “Look Dad!” Jess had said. “I just got a Charmander from Professor Elm! Isn’t that great!” He threw his new Pokéball to the floor to release Charmander from the ball. In a flash of light, the orange salamander appeared and gazed up at Jess’s father. “Char, char!” he cried happily. Jess’s father didn’t even look up. “What did I tell you, Jess!” he exclaimed angrily. “Get this stupid idea of being a Pokémon trainer out of your head! You need to keep your head on your work to become a cosmonaut! Do you want to be a loser? What have I always told you?” Jess sobbed, but spoke through his tears, “Always reach for the stars. The stars are the markers of success.” He buried his face into his hands and cried. He picked the Pokéball off of the floor and returned Charmander. The last thing Jess remembered was running out to the cliffs that towered over the Mossdeep Harbor. And he remembered pounding the ground with his fists…but then the rest was a blur. He patted his Charmander’s Pokéball fondly as he reached for his helmet. A red light above his door began to flash. He knew that meant it was time for him to board the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven and prepare for liftoff. He walked out of his room, knowing full well how long it would be before he would return. He left his small house on the edge of the Space Agency property. After the cataclysmic events of the previous years, many more people were pushing for advances in Science and Medicine, to prevent future occurrences of space invaders and hazardous pandemics. The Mossdeep City Space Agency was no exception. Huge additions had been made to the rocket launching site, so great that the Mossdeep City gym had to be bulldozed and rebuilt on the other side of the island. Gym leaders Tate and Liza were very distraught at the news of their gym being destroyed, but they too remembered previous events and decided the change was for the best. Jess walked closer to the rocket. It was mind boggling to him how a huge explosion would catapult a huge hunk of metal weighing tons into outer space. He stepped into an elevator that would bring him to the rocket’s opening, where he would enter the cockpit and await the launch. * * * “Jessie, I don’t know what we are doing here!” On the roof of the Mission Control building, huge crowds had assembled to watch the first manned spacecraft launch off into deep space. Notable members of the crowd included Pofty, a news reporter from the Orre region, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, and, not surprisingly, Jessie, James, and Meouth. “Me neithers!” exclaimed Meouth, who was seated on James’s shoulder, trying to get a better view of the rocket. “And why are we listening to yous? I thought we voted James the leader of this here group!” “Shut it you!” exclaimed Jessie. “Look at all these people here. Think of all the rare and valuable Pokémon that could be here! Plus,” she said, eyeing Ash’s coveted Pikachu, “during the liftoff, the cataclysmic explosion should be an adequate distraction for us to steal that twerp’s Pikachu!” James shifted uncomfortably. After a near death experience, James suddenly felt a lot worse about trying to steal Ash’s Pikachu. Especially since… Suddenly, Ash turned around, and noticed Jessie’s standout hairdo. He recognized her immediately. “Quick, he sees us!” squealed James, hiding behind Jessie. When Jessie didn’t run, he began to panic. “Who cares if he sees us? Let him confront us like a man!” she said confidently, not noticing James running away like a little girl. James was zigzagging in a haphazard, confused fashion. He ducked and weaved between people who were watching the rocket. He finally reached a metal staircase and began to climb. He climbed for what seemed like an eternity, finally reaching a door. He closed it behind him as he ran into the dark room ahead of him. James searched nervously for a place to hide, and finally found a stack of boxes, which he reorganized to create an adequate hiding place. He just hoped that Ash wouldn’t find him. * * * Jess’s elevator ride ended with a lurch. He looked at the elevator’s control panel, which was unresponsive. With an angry growl, he pounded the panel with his fist. The glass doors of the elevator slid open with a creak. He groaned. ‘They can build an interstellar rocket ship that can hurdle itself into deep space, but they can’t build a proper elevator. Typical Mossdeep Space Agency…’ He walked out onto the metal catwalk that led to the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven. He heard a roar of applause coming from his left. Jess turned to see crowds of people cheering him from the roof of the Mission Control building. He waved to the crowds, the stopped. Maybe it was a trick of the eye, but he thought he saw… He walked the full distance of the catwalk, and found the rocket’s door sealed shut. ‘Well this is nice, NOW how am I supposed to get in?’ He looked at the crowd and pointed to the door, knowing someone from mission control could open it in a heartbeat. Sure enough, seconds later, the door whooshed open with a futuristic hiss. He climbed inside the rocket, and headed to the cockpit. The cockpit was actually very roomy. There was no bridge like on some science fiction television shows and films, since the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven had a one man crew. However, the designer had allotted two seats in the cockpit, maybe for a Pokémon companion. Jess had one thought for who he would have liked to have sat there, but Sophia was in medical school to become a Pokémon Center technician. She wouldn’t be able to survive the harsh conditions of space. Jess pulled himself into the pilot’s chair, and bolted himself in. A harness, like what you would find on a roller coaster had lowered itself over Jess’s chest. It would keep him safe in deep space, where in a crash, a normal seatbelt would probably decapitate him. He pulled Charmander’s Pokéball off of his belt and released it. The Charmander appeared in his chair, and raised his arms obediently so his harness could come down. Not only had Jess been put through terrible training conditions, but Charmander as well. He could see signs of fatigue in his dear friend, making him wonder if humans and Pokémon were meant to go into space. He saw a light on the console ignite, followed by many more. An LCD screen lit up in the center of the console, showing a 3D render of the Mossdeep City Space Agency logo. Jess knew it was time for liftoff. * * * “So what are you doing here Jessie?” Ash asked quizzically. “Admiring this milestone in space flight,” she said dismissively. “Don’t you usually have an entourage of twerps with you?” Ash shrugged. “Brock is off visiting his family in Pewter, May is off in Ever Grande taking the Elite Four challenge, and Max is back home.” Jessie nodded. “And what about those two others that James told me about. Who helped you during the…you know…?” “Oh, yes. Tristan went back to Desolation Isle, where he continues to train his Pokémon, and the Dragon Master is taking a pilgrimage to Mount Silver, on a quest to find answers.” Ash sighed. “He found his Squirtle. Mr. Fuji led him to the secret basement of Pokémon Tower, and showed him the shrine that he had built in the Squirtle’s honor…” Ash looked into Jessie’s eyes. “He is after a legendary Pokémon of untold strength. One foretold in ancient legend as the Creation Pokémon, in hopes of bringing his Squirtle back.” Ash bowed his head in silence. On his shoulder, his Pikachu uttered a sad cry. Jessie was silent. True, she was only a Freelance Grunt at Team Rocket, never involved in the major heists, but she did remember being told of what happened in Pokémon Tower, and what happened to one poor trainer’s Squirtle. She suddenly had doubts about her life and what she was doing. “I know why you are here,” Ash said solemnly. You are here to steal my Pikachu. But I will not let you have him. He is my friend. Something you will never have; you use your Pokémon as tools of destruction. A bond between a trainer and a Pokémon is so strong…but you’d never understand.” Ash turned around and looked back at the rocket. “If we do find more planets, more Pokémon, more trainers…will they be as true as us? Will they love and respect their Pokémon as we do? Or will they use them as tools of ultimate doom? We shall soon see…” Jessie opened her mouth, but the words she said in reply were drowned out by an announcement over the loudspeaker. “The launch of the spacecraft Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven is about to commence. Please, will all personnel clear the launch pad. Rocket launch in T-minus 20 seconds.” * * * Jess gulped as the LCD screen began flashing numbers. The countdown to his launch into space. Leaving everything behind. His home, Sophia, his father’s grave…he closed his eyes to stop the tears. ‘I’ll make you proud, father.’ He glanced at the screen, the countdown had reached 12. There was now turning back now. Deep in the cargo hold of the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven, James sat huddled in the boxes. “I think it’s safe now,” he said to himself. He looked at one of the boxes. FREEZE DRIED RATIONS a large print blared. ‘Now that’s funny,’ he thought to himself. ‘Why would there be freeze dried…oh no…’ He heard a countdown in the distance. He looked around at his surroundings, and suddenly realized where he was. “Oh no.” “Liftoff in T-minus ten, nine, eight,” Jess clenched his armrests in fear. “…seven, six, five,” Jessie and Ash looked up at the gleaming rocket expectantly. “four, three, two,” James clenched his eyes shut and whimpered. “one, ignition!” A thunderous roar filled the air of Mossdeep City. Huge clouds of exhaust blasted from the spacecraft’s initial rockets as the huge spaceship began to ascend into the heavens. Seconds later, it was gone, leaving only the puffy clouds of exhaust and smell of rocket fuel in the air. In the crowd, a pretty girl looked up at the sky, hoping to see the rocket. But it was gone. “Goodbye, my rocket man,” she whispered to the stars. Chapter Two Orbit The cockpit of the rocket shook as it was thrust into the atmosphere at 25,000 miles per second. Jess’s face was forced into one expression from the g-force of the tremendous launch. Suddenly, the rustling stopped. Jess felt his face slide back to normal. Charmander sighed. Jess, who had all but forgotten his friend was there, looked over at his Pokémon. The Charmander was fidgeting in his harness. Jess pressed a button that released the two of them from the painfully tight harnesses. He felt himself start to rise from his seat. He looked at Charmander, who was already in the process of playing gleefully in the zero-gravity environment. Jess pressed another button, activating artificial gravity. His Charmander fell back to his seat with a bump. But at the same time, there was a loud crash from behind them. Jess turned around to see what it was. “You stay here,” he instructed his Charmander. “I’ll go check it out.” “Char, Char!” cried his Charmander obediently. Jess rose from his chair, and crept cautiously back into the nether regions of the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven. He knew there was a strong possibility that a wild Pokémon could have crept into the rocket, it had happened once before. Once, during the construction of an orbiter, a Beedrill had made it inside and laid eggs in the circuit board. Once the orbiter had been launched into space, the eggs hatched, and the Weedle inside chewed the circuitry to pieces. A billion dollar satellite, ruined. But as Jess crept towards the source of the disturbance, he heard a noise that was distinctly human. A whining, depressing sob, coming from a pile of ration boxes. The boxes had probably fallen when the artificial gravity was switched on. He began to push the boxes aside, and found a face. “Hello,” the face smiled. “I seem to be on the wrong flight.” Jess pulled the person out of the boxes and looked him in the eyes. “Who are you?” he asked menacingly. “J-James Kadabra,” James said nervously. “I’m very sorry Mister…” “Badlett. Jess Badlett. Welcome to the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven.” He looked at James closely. He could see genuine fear. ‘He must have gotten in by accident,’ he thought. “You look scared to death,” Jess said conversationally. “Well, it was my first time in a rocket ship bound for deep space. I have a right to be scared.” “I guess liftoff was a bit extreme for you, right?” Jess replied. “Actually, I’m pretty used to blasting off,” James replied matter-of-factly. “You don’t say…” Jess mumbled. He ripped open one of the ration boxes, and pulled out a tube. He offered it to James. “Hungry?” James eagerly grabbed the tube. He raised it to his mouth, but stopped. “Is it ok? I mean…me eating? Is this food rationed just for you?” Jess started to say something, but paused. James was right. Each tube was a day’s ration’s for him, and there were five hundred of them. James would cut the mission time in half…unless… “Take half of the tube, and I’ll have the other half,” Jess told James. “Are you sure?” James said, nervous about now endangering the mission. “Hey, if you don’t, you are gonna die, so you have to. It’s not as if I can turn this rocket around now. I think a few seconds ago we just left the planet’s orbit, and it would be next to impossible to get this bucket of bolts turned around. Eat,” he told James again as he lowered the tube from his mouth. Cautiously, James squeezed out half of the ration into his mouth. He handed the tube to Jess, who pocketed it. James’s face scrunched up. “What flavor was that?” Jess pulled the tube back out of his pocket. “Corned beef, baked potato and gravy. Icky.” He started to lower the tube back into his pocket when he noticed what was sticking to it. “Man…” he sighed as he pulled his picture of Sophia off of the tube. Luckily, only the back was gummed up. He looked into the eyes of the pictured girl. James glanced at the picture over Jess’s shoulder. “Pretty girl,” Jess quickly put the photo back in his pocket. “Who was that?” “Nobody,” Jess sighed. “Just someone I left behind.” He began to walk back to the cockpit. He turned around to address James. “You coming?” James nodded and followed Jess to the cockpit. His head was spinning. Minutes ago, he was plotting to steal Pokémon, and the next thing he knew he was on a rocket ship to deep space. Not in a million years did he expect this to happen. Jess slid back into his seat and put Charmander on his lap. “Come, Mr. Kadabra. You’ve got a ring side seat for history in the making with your name on it.” James sat down in the co-pilot’s chair. Outside the window, he could see a huge, endless star field that was mysterious, mesmerizing and beautiful all at the same time. He looked at Jess, who had closed his eyes in silent meditation. “Mr. Badlett?” James asked. “Call me Jess,” he replied. “Let me guess, Mr. Badlett is my father?” James joked. But immediately he regretted saying it. He could see Jess’s face crunch in sadness. “Was, Mr. Kadabra. He was my father. What was your question, now?” James motioned to the stars. “Which one……where are we going?” Jess opened his eyes and pointed to an extremely bright star. “That’s where we are going. Alpha Genesis. Scientists have been speculating for years that that star is where all Pokémon life on the planet came from. Not many people know this, but Pokémon haven’t always inhabited our world. The ancient Pokémon, Kabutops, Aerodactyl, Kyogre, those were among the first to come to the planet. Ancient records recall a cataclysmic asteroid collision that hit in the middle of the ocean, millions of years ago. From that cosmic rock, it is believed that Pokémon appeared. Others believe they were transported here by two huge Pokémon, more powerful than any of this world, that can alter time and space…” Jess sighed, and turned to James. “There are so many mysteries that surround life, humanity, Pokémon. For millions of years, we have wondered and toiled to solve these mysteries. And now, we may actually find some answers. Isn’t it exciting, Mr. Kadabra…James…to be a part of the eternal quest for the answer, the reason why? We will go down in history as the pioneers of time and space, and the ones who uncover the answers to the questions surrounding Pokémon…but I’m getting ahead of myself.” He began pressing buttons on the console. “Arms up,” he said to James, who did so as his harness came down. “What’s going on?” he asked Jess. “We are taking the first step of the journey. I’m engaging the drive engines. Soon we will be millions of miles away from home.” A button rose between the two seats. A big red button. “Will you do the honors, James?” Jess said, smiling. James looked nervously at the button. He thought about his home, his family, his Pokémon…his life. Would he be missed? And the second the answer came to his head, he knew what he had to do. James pushed the button. The Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven launched at breakneck speed into a galaxy of stars, off on an interstellar quest to Alpha Genesis. Chapter Three Making the Most of the Journey Day seven. It had been one week since he stumbled accidentally into the rocket and blasted off for real. James had been counting the days closely; he had nothing better to do. Not since day one had he really had a conversation with Jess, they exchanged words only when sharing the freeze dried food, and even then they talked about the terrible taste. This made James uncomfortable. He was a social creature at heart, and being stuck in space with this guy meant that if he wanted someone to talk to for the next five hundred days, he had to talk to Jess. So, when they were seated together in the cockpit, he tried to begin a conversation. “So…” James began, “…how long have you waited for this, huh?” Jess turned to him, confused. “What do you mean?” “I mean, haven’t you always wanted to be an astronaut? It was one of my dreams, but I ran away from home when I was young, so…” he trailed off, distraught over his harsh childhood. Jess sighed. He decided, since he had no one else to talk to, that he could confide his true feelings in James. “I never wanted to be an astronaut,” he said in a dark whisper. James was surprised by this response. “But what about all that you said about making history, knowing where what we are, answering the eternal question…” “I was caught up in the moment, ok?” he put his head in his hands. “I wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, you know? Do the Gym Circuits, beat the Elite Four, become a champion. I wanted to travel across countries, collecting Pokémon as I went. But…I didn’t.” “What……but why didn’t you follow your dreams?” “My father…my father meant everything to me. He convinced me that the planet and Pokémon training was for losers and I should enroll in the Space Academy. And I did……I did what my father wanted.” James knew what he meant. His father had wanted many things from him that he couldn’t deliver on. An arranged marriage, taking over the family business……he ran away from everything and joined Team Rocket…only to endure a life of humiliation and disrespect. He wondered to this day whether his choice was worth it…a free life of humiliation over an arranged life of wealth and prosperity. “But why did I listen to him?” Jess continued, his heart aching. “He was never around. Over our mantel, who was there a picture of? Not me, of his superior officer, Lieutenant Surge. When he was around, all he did was boss me around and push his militaristic career ideas on me. On my birthday, I asked for a Pokédex, but what I got was a model spaceship. So why did I listen?” Before James could cut in, Jess continued. “I think it was guilt. The last time I had ever talked to him…let’s see…it was two weeks before my eighteenth birthday. I had applied for a Pokémon trainer’s license the week before. Without his permission. Remember, you have to have a parental signature before the license is validated. But because my father would never sign it, I forged his signature and applied. So, two weeks before my birthday, my father gets a letter in the mail. A letter telling him what a great decision he made in allowing his son to apply for a Pokémon Trainer’s license. “I remember him storming up to my room. He pushed my door open so fast that the knob made a dent in the wall. Then the yelling began. ‘WHY DID YOU APPLY FOR THIS WITHOUT TALKING TO ME?’ he bellowed at me. I stood up and yelled back, ‘You’d never let me apply for a license! You’ve been forcing me all my life to join the Space Academy! To go up in space and leave the losers behind! Well, guess what father? I think you’re the loser! You want me to follow your dream because you couldn’t! But I have my own dreams! My own desires! So, let well enough alone and GET OUT OF MY LIFE!’ “My father got a really strange look in his eyes. At first I thought it was blinding rage, but then I realized it was sadness. I felt terrible for what I had done, but what had been said couldn’t be taken back. He walked slowly from my room, delicately closing the door behind him…” Jess closed his eyes and sighed again. The sigh made the hairs on James’s neck stand up. “Six days later my father died. It was an accident in the training facility. He had overworked himself and his heart just gave out. Later I learned he was trying to get in shape to apply for the Space Academy.” James was silent. He felt a terrible feeling in his gut, one he couldn’t quite place. His life had been bad, but Jess had it much worse. To have all these feelings built up inside of him all those years, then when he finally unleashes, it ends up costing his father his life. “At the funeral,” Jess continued, “I filled out my application form for the Space Academy. I decided since my father couldn’t achieve his dreams, I would reach the stars for him. And now I’m here. I gave up all my hopes, dreams, my girl…but I did it…oh, I’m so sorry James. I dumped all my problems onto you. I bet you are bored out of your mind.” “Actually,” James replied, “I feel a lot better than if we had been sitting in dead silence. Man…sorry about asking though. I never would have…you know, brought it up if I knew…” “But there was no way for you to know. And I’m glad I’ve finally told someone. I’ve kept that secret for so long…” He reached forward and pressed a button on the console. A cup dropped down, and filled with water. Jess offered it to James. James accepted it and drank deeply from the cup. After wiping his lip, he realized something. “Don’t we have to ration the water, too?” he asked. Jess shook his head. “Nope. The ship takes raw hydrogen and oxygen from outer space and combines it in a fusion chamber to create an endless supply of water. So drink up.” James nodded and continued to drink. “So what’s your story, James?” James coughed. “Sorry, what?” “What’s your story? Come on, everyone has a tearjerker up their sleeve. Let’s hear it.” James sighed. Should he tell Jess the truth? Should he admit he’s a criminal, a Pokémon snatcher and… Jess took the silence as James not being ready to tell. “Well ok, James, but we do have another four hundred and ninety three days together. Maybe you’ll be ready later.” James nodded. Maybe. Jess motioned to the stars. “Have you ever looked up, and wondered if man is alone in the universe?” James blinked. ‘He must be going back into his excitement about space exploration phase’ James thought. “Sometimes,” he replied. “I’m always thinking about the stars…not about alien life, but at least the stars.” Jess nodded slightly. “Fair enough. I had never wanted to be a cosmonaut, but I always wanted to know if there was life elsewhere in the universe. I mean, when you’re looking at the stars, like that one for instance,” he pointed to a random star, “do you ever get the feeling that someone on that star is looking back at you, wondering if you exist? Funny thought, huh?” James let that thought run through his mind. “No. That’s deep. And I know what you mean. After all the times I’ve reached the stars, I feel something deep inside that makes me wonder.” “Yeah…” Jess trailed off, and drifted into slumber. James slumped back into his chair. “Yeah,” James muttered to himself. “I get that feeling. It’s me, falling back to Earth after being blasted off by Ash’s Pikachu.” He looked into the star field. Stars appeared to fly across time and space itself. James’s eyes grew heavy as he watched the mesmerizing stars zoom past. He drifted into slumber seconds later. Chapter Four Unexpected Expedition James awoke to the sound of a blaring klaxon in his ears. Red lights flashed as he looked around. Outside the front window, he could see a large, looming planet coming closer to the ship than he thought possible…unless… He turned to wake Jess, but then he realized that he was already up. “Nice to see you finally show up!” he said bitterly as he clenched the control stick tightly. Apparently his efforts were futile, as the ship continued to careen into the planet. “Where are we?” James wondered aloud. “Is this Alpha Genesis?” “No,” Jess replied. “This planet isn’t even on my charts. We are five thousand miles off course.” James looked out the window again. The huge planet continued to grow as the ship sped towards it at breakneck speed. He could see massive mountain ranges and epically sized oceans, becomingly increasingly more detailed. “Why can’t we turn around?” Jess growled. “Because we have been sucked into the planet’s gravitational pull. This planet is probably two hundred thousand miles in diameter. That means, someone screwed up in Mission Control, we came too close, and now, we’re going to crash.” James yelped. “CRASH?” But this time Jess didn’t reply. Jess knew full well what a crash meant. After a launch, a rocket disposed of its launch modules, leaving only the craft itself. Meaning, that even if they survived the crash onto this unknown planet, the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven would never be able to launch without the modules. So they would be forever marooned with no one to rescue them. Jess didn’t bother to tell James, it would just upset him. Jess sighed. He would never see Sophia again. But then again James probably had family who were looking for him back home, and would never find him. The window started to glow brightly. James cried out. “The ship is burning up! We’re all going to die! “Shut up!” Jess yelled. “It’s just the ship entering the planet’s atmosphere. So just calm down and shut up!” The ship cruised over a large continent at breakneck speed. Outside the window, James saw a flash of brown. ‘Was that a Pokémon?’ he thought, but dismissed the idea. It really didn’t matter anymore… The LCD screen showed how far off the ground the ship was. The Pidgeot Ten- Oh-Seven was twenty five thousand feet off the ground. ‘Airplanes fly higher than this!’ Jess thought darkly as he tried to keep the ship from falling faster. But it was no use. James had shut his eyes in fear, holding them closed with all his might. He might as well just accept it. He had no one who would miss him. He truly was a nobody, a drifter, and this misadventure was just an easy out. The LCD screen showed the ship at just over one thousand feet in the air. James could see the ship was headed for the edge of a great wood, ten times greater than the Viridian Forest. And at the edge of the forest was a cliff. Five hundred feet. Two hundred feet. “Goodbye, Sophia…” Jess whispered to himself. Fifty feet. The ship collided into the ground in a huge explosion. Ten trees in the way of the speeding fiery missile were uprooted and thrown into the air. The ground provided adequate friction to slow the rocket down before it was sent off the cliff, but one thing was for sure. Jess and James were stuck on the planet with no hope of getting home. * * * “Hello, I’m Pofty, reporter for ONBS News, here at the Mossdeep City Space Agency, where we have just learned some disturbing news about the Alpha Genesis Mission, the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven, and the sole pilot, Jess Badlett.” When Sophia heard this on the TV, she dropped the glass china she was setting out for dinner. She ran to the TV and gave it her undivided attention. “I am here,” Pofty continued, “with MCSA’s media representative, Charlie Ehsen. Charlie, what can you tell us about the rocket?” She held the microphone to the face of a middle aged man with black hair. “I have very little news, other than the fact that the ship has come off course, and now we cannot receive or transmit radio signals to the rocket. We will continue to inform the media as new developments arise.” “What do you personally think happened to the rocket, Mr. Ehsen?” Pofty questioned. “Well, I can honestly say that I don’t know. But if I know the pilot like I think I do, I don’t think this will be that big of a deal. Jess is a resourceful young man with a lot to live for. I think he’ll pull through.” “Thank you. Reporting for ONBS News, this is Pofty.” Sophia shut off the TV. The media representative at MCSA gave her comfort, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that Jess was out there, trapped in space alone… * * * ‘Ohh, my head…’ Jess groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He looked around. The cockpit of the spaceship was in pretty bad shape. The console was smashed up, and the LCD screen was leaking chemicals from a deep crack. He sighed. Then he remembered James. He spun around to see James unconscious in his chair, breathing lightly but still breathing. He noticed James’s shirt for the first time. A white, long sleeved tee shirt with a large red R on it. ‘I wonder what that stands for,’ he thought to himself. He shook James’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy. James, wake up!” James slowly began to stir. “Whaaa……” James attempted to speak. He saw Jess and squinted. “Are we dead?” “Not physically,” Jess replied. “Technically, since we can’t get off this planet, we’re as good as dead.” James sighed. “Are you sure? Maybe there’s some way…” Jess put his hand on James’s shoulder. “Get out of denial. We have no launch module. We have no rocket fuel. We have no way to get off the planet. The sooner you accept that, the better off you’ll be.” James refused to give up. “Well, what if there was some way to push the rocket off the cliff, and use the momentum to slingshot us back into space?” Jess pressed the button to dispense water. A cup came down, but no water came out. A red light flashed over a sign that read Lack of hydrogen. Command cannot be carried out. “Dang. We have no water.” He looked back at James. “Creative solution, James, but in order to leave the atmosphere of a planet with as much of a gravitational pull as this one would take more power than we have.” James kept thinking. “Ok……what about this forest? Can’t we use the wood as fuel?” Jess shook his head. “No, that wouldn’t work. The only way we could get into space is with a launch module, and that is something we don’t have.” He looked down at the console, noticing the cracked LCD screen. “Well, without the fluid, we can’t use this. We’ll have to go old school.” Jess pulled down a classic style computer monitor and keyboard. “Run…analysis…on…planet…atmosphere…” The computer made whirring noises as it ran the program. Finally a message appeared on the screen in binary. “What does that say?” James asked, unable to decode the matrix of ones and zeroes.” Jess squinted at the screen. “Well, if I’m reading this right, the planet has the same kind of atmosphere as home. So we can go outside.” James sighed in relief. They didn’t have to worry about running out of oxygen anymore. Jess stood up and slid out of the cockpit. James followed him to the door. Jess opened the door and stepped out. The first thing they noticed was how tall the trees were. From as far as they could tell, they were as tall as the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven easily. And looking over the edge of the cliff was daunting. Falling off the cliff would mean a two thousand feet fall into a raging river filled with jagged rocks. James looked out into the forest. A huge cloud of fog hovered above the ground with an air of mysterious serenity. Jess threw the Pokéball at his belt to the ground to release his Charmander. “Char, char!” he exclaimed…then realized that he had no idea where he was. He looked up at Jess. “Char?” Jess crouched down to Charmander’s level and explained the situation. James watched with wonder the way Jess treated his Pokémon as an equal…as a friend… When Jess finished telling his story, Charmander began sniffing the air. “Char, char!” exclaimed Charmander, and he took off into the forest. “Charmander!” Jess called after him, and ran after his Pokémon’s flaming tail. James tried his best to keep up, but he soon became lost in the fog. “Jess?” he called out into the fog, but he heard no answer. He continued to stumble blindly into the infinite whiteness of the forest. After walking for a while, bumping into trees every five seconds, James started become disheartened. ‘I’m going to be lost in this forest, on some planet in the middle of nowhere, with no one to mourn me…’ then he bumped into something. Hard. He looked up into the face of a menacing Machoke. “MAAAAA!” exclaimed the powerhouse Pokémon as it picked up James with little effort. James screamed for help, but no one called. He noticed that the fog had begun to lift as the large, strong creature ran him across the forest. He could see a clearing up ahead in the darkness, lit by torches that shone bright through the thick fog. The Machoke set James down at the edge of what appeared to be a village of Pokémon. He could recognize many different species, Electrode, Pikachu, Poliwhirl, Venonat, and more he couldn’t recognize. He saw Jess and Charmander sitting in exotic chairs in front of a large podium. As James approached them, an unrecognizable Pokémon produced a third chair for him. He inched next to Jess. “Umm, can you tell me what’s going on here?” he whispered to Jess. “I can’t tell. I think we are going to have to speak before the village elder to explain our presence here,” Jess whispered back. “Ohh,” James sighed. It was a trial. James had never been good on trial. A tribal drum sounded. An ancient looking Pokémon stood at the podium. James recognized it at an Alakazam. Beside it stood a strange looking, staff holding Pokémon. “Ala…kaZAM…” the Alakazam addressed the three cosmonauts. James suddenly heard a message inside his head. ‘Please speak in your native tongue, and my translator will help us understand one other.’ Jess stood up to speak. “Hello. I am Pilot Jess Badlett, and I come in peace to your village.” The staff holding Pokémon stepped forward. “Thank you, now please take your seat,” he commanded. Jess immediately obliged. The elder Alakazam began to speak. “Al…alaka…kazam, kazam…” he said gruffly. The staff holding translator began to speak. “Our illustrious leader would like to know why you have come down in a burst of flame from the sky, disturbing our pleasant life?” James looked at Jess, who promptly answered. “My spacecraft has crash landed not to far from here. It was purely by accident. I mean no harm to your people and apologize for the disturbance I have caused.” The staff holding Pokémon made a silencing motion with his hands, and then turned to the Alakazam, waiting for his response. “Kazam, kazam, AlaKazam…” the elder spoke again. The translator turned again to Jess. “Our leader expresses sympathy for you and your companions, and would like to help. But he would first like to know, what kind of Pokémon are you?” The translator stood, waiting for the response. Jess wasn’t sure how to answer. “I……I’m not a Pokémon. I’m a man. A human.” A hush fell over the spectators, who hadn’t drawn much attention to themselves until their constant tittering had disappeared. “Not a Pokémon?” the translator exclaimed, “but that means that…there is life elsewhere in the universe……” Jess spoke again. “The purpose of our mission was to journey to the center of the universe, to where Pokémon life was rumored to originate from. We hoped to answer the same question that you have asked for years; is there life besides our own in the universe. You now have your answer, while our quest for the answer has ended here.” The translator was taken aback. “Your quest ends here?” Jess sighed. “Our ship has been damaged to the point where we cannot continue. We are stuck on this planet forever.” The translator nodded. “I see.” He turned to the elder, and began a silent consul with him. James turned to Jess. “What’s happening now?” he whispered. “I think they’re deciding what to do with us,” Jess whispered back. The translator turned back to the cosmonauts. “Our leader has decided that you cannot remain here.” James’s mouth gaped open. Charmander gave a small cry. Jess just kept his eyes on the elder Alakazam, who was looking at him quizzically. “Instead,” the translator continued, “we shall help you reach the stars to complete your quest. Just tell us what we have to do, and our entire village shall be at your command.” Jess looked around as hundreds of Pokémon stood on their hind legs, rising before him. Large bird Pokémon rose above the grounded creatures, flapping their enormous wings. Jess closed his eyes, blinking away tears. “Thank you,” he whispered. The Alakazam nodded. ‘You will see her again,’ he heard a voice in his head say. Jess nodded. Then he turned to the masses of Pokémon. “Ok, we have a lot of work to do. Let’s go!” he yelled. A great cheer from the Pokémon roared out, as they ran to the rocket. James looked around, noticing he was all alone in the clearing. The fog began to roll in again. “Aw, man.” Chapter Five The Makeshift Launch The reconstruction of the rocket went like clockwork. First off, the hull of the rocket had been terribly damaged in the crash into the forest. But before the hull could be repaired, the rocket had to be standing upright, which posed a great problem. Jess went to the translator. “Is there anything we can do to get the rocket to stand upright?” he asked. The translator said nothing, just motioned to the trees. A crowd of Spinarak, Caterpies, and Bulbasaurs shot vines and webs out onto the rocket. One Pokémon called out to the rest of the team, and then they began pulling up the rocket. Within minutes, the rocket was standing upright. A crowd of Machoke began to pound out the dents in the hull. And when they reached a large gaping breach in the hull, a Typhlosion welded the two ends together to reform the rocket. “Ok, great!” Jess addressed the Pokémon. “Now we need a support brace to hold the rocket upright, and a ladder to the door so we can get inside.” A crowd of Pincer began felling trees to use to build the brace. The Spinarak began to bond the raw lumber together. James came up to Jess and put his hand on his shoulder. “Well, what do you think? Are we getting off this rock?” Jess smiled wryly and turned to James. “Only if these Pokémon can construct a functional launch module and come up with fifty thousand pounds of rocket fuel.” James groaned and walked away. The translator walked up to Jess. “In the event that we cannot repair your rocket, and that you are in fact stuck on this planet, we will gladly welcome you into our society.” Jess smiled and nodded. “Thank you,” he mouthed. The translator walked away. Jess looked up at the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven, under construction again. He remembered when he first saw the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven, half built, in a hanger on the outskirts of the Mossdeep City Space Agency property. He saw the cockpit being attached to the ship himself, knowing one day he would sit there on the way to a far off world. He blinked, and he was suddenly back in the real world. The ladder to the cockpit had been built, and some electric Pokémon were ascending the staircase to fix the electronic controls. Jess decided it would be best if he followed. When he got to the top of the ladder, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The inside of the ship was well on its way to being fully repaired. A crew of Pichu were hard at work repairing the delicate instruments in the console. However, they were unable to repair the LCD screen. Farther down in the ship, Mankeys were reorganizing boxes of freeze dried food and tools. He noticed Weedle patching up holes in piping and ventilation. ‘Wow,’ he thought to himself, ‘this might actually work…but without a launch module…’ He shook the thought from his head; The Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven would make it back into space. He just knew it. After two days of nonstop work, the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven had been restored to its former glory. James looked up at the rocket, then the starry sky above it. It wouldn’t be much longer now. The translator and the elder Alakazam approached Jess and James. “Ala…ka…zam…” the Alakazam said. The translator nodded. “Our leader wishes you well on your journey.” Jess nodded. “Thank you, but how are we to get back into space? We can’t launch without a launch module and rocket fuel, which we used to get off of our planet.” The translator shook his head. “You leave that to us. Now get back inside your ship and prepare for launch.” Jess nodded, and motioned for James to follow him up the ladder to the cockpit. Once inside, they latched in with the harnesses, and sat in silence. It was James who spoke first. “How do you think that they’re going to get us into space?” he asked Jess. Jess didn’t reply. Suddenly, the ship began to rise. James looked out the forward window, but he couldn’t see the source of locomotion. Jess pulled down the keyboard for the computer. “Run…camera…seven…” he programmed. The computer screen showed hundreds of bird Pokémon flying with all their might, clutching the rocket with their feet. Jess kept changing cameras. Apparently, on four different sides were four different legendary birds, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Ho-Oh, whose enormous wings beat at a ferocious pace to propel the rocket farther. Not missing a beat, Jess brought up the altitude meter to see how high they were. “We’re at forty thousand feet above the ground. Pretty good, but we have a long way to go still.” He activated the rear camera. About twenty Electrodes were sitting right where the rocket booster was. “Now I wonder……oh…hold on James!” The Electrodes had begun to glow brightly. Suddenly, there was a tremendous explosion, and the rocket lurched forward at great speed. Jess and James were pushed against their seats by the g- force. Then, suddenly, the g-force gave out. The ship began to cruise out into the stars. They were back in space. “Yeah!” Jess exclaimed. “They did it! Wow, I didn’t think it was possible…” he blinked. “This is the happiest day of my life.” James nodded in agreement. “Now isn’t it about time we got back on course?” “Yes it is, James. Let’s go!” Jess hit the red button, firing the deep space thrusters once again. The ship shot off at a tremendous rate, desperate to get back on track. Chapter Six The Truth Revealed James sat back in his seat, relaxing. It was now day fifty of the space expedition. In that time, Jess had managed to find a replacement LCD screen in the deep, seemingly endless nether regions of the rocket. The water producing generator was once again fully operational, and there was no shortage of freeze dried food. One day, Jess took his photograph of Sophia, and stuck it to the front window. James looked at it quizzically. “Who’s that?” he asked. Jess looked up at his photograph. “That’s my girlfriend, Sophia. She was one of the hardest people to part from when I had to go up into space. I tried to get Mission Control to let her radio up to me once a week, but apparently they never allowed her to…come to think of it, I haven’t gotten any transmissions from Mission Control. None.” Jess looked at the radio transmitter. He slapped his forehead. “Now, this proves it. I really am stupid.” He switched the radio on. “I forgot to do that as we launched. The ship itself was probably sending its status and position back to Mission Control, but I couldn’t talk to them myself.” He began to press the transmit button, then he turned to James. “They don’t know you’re here. I think maybe you shouldn’t make any noise right now.” “Right,” he replied. Jess pressed the button. “This is Jess Badlett radioing Mossdeep City Control. Badlett to Control.” He let go of the button, awaiting a response. He heard nothing but static. He tried a different frequency. “This is Jess Badlett radioing Goldenrod City, Badlett to Goldenrod.” Still no response. “Badlett to Saffron. Badlett to Saffron, come in Saffron.” No response. He slumped back in his chair. “No body can hear us.” James looked at the radio. “Maybe we’re so far away that it takes longer to send the radio signal. I mean, that’s possible, right?” Jess’s face brightened. “Yes, you’re absolutely right. About ten minutes from now, Mossdeep will receive our transmission. Then, it might be another fifteen before we get a response.” “Why fifteen?” James inquired. “Because we’re traveling farther and farther away from home, meaning messages will take longer and longer to transmit back and forth.” James sighed. Jess was right, which meant that this conversation could take a very long time. “Meanwhile, when it comes to news, we have an ONBS satellite pointing directly at us. It takes a little less time to get our news.” He switched on the LCD screen. “I think it transmits nonstop, so we should be getting the morning news right about now.” Jess was right. As soon as the picture appeared, a news anchor had begun to give the morning news that he had given live five hours ago. “Good morning, this is Serj Thunder, for ONBS Morning News. In one of our top continuing stories today, it has been announced that all communications with the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven have ceased, including involuntary broadcasts of position and life support. The worst has been feared for Pilot Jess Badlett, and his Pokémon partner, Charmander. Jess watched the screen and laughed. “This is old news. We just sent out a broadcast!” But then he thought of Sophia, and how she probably thought that he was dead right now. The anchor shifted his notes. “In other news, the search continues for a man missing for fifty days, presumed dead. James Kadabra, who was last seen in Mossdeep City at the launch of the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven, has failed to show up at all in the past two months. “But when we went to find the Kadabra family to interview them over this event, they could not be found. So we went into James’s records to find out who he really is.” James’s mouth gaped open in horror. Not only would Jess find out about him being in Team Rocket, but about his past name… “It appears that this so called James Kadabra changed his name when he joined the odious crime syndicate Team Rocket as a freelance grunt. His real name is…” Jess switched off the LCD screen. “I’ve heard enough. Is this true?” James hung his head. “Yes, it’s true. I’m from Team Rocket. I was at the launch with my partner, who was trying to steal Pokémon to sell on the black market…but…since last year I haven’t really…I just…I don’t know who I am anymore. I thought that stealing was my one true passion, but it turned out that it wasn’t. I realized that stealing wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life…but I didn’t know what I wanted to do…so I continued to do the one thing that I knew. And look where it got me.” Jess looked at James, who was sulking over the ruin of his life. He felt great sympathy for him. Looking at his own life, he realized that he and James had much in common. Doing what they knew best, even though it wasn’t what they wanted. So much wasted potential…… “Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven, this is Mission Control. Where have you been?” Jess grabbed the microphone that was connected to the radio. This is the Ten-Oh- Seven; we crash landed on a strange planet, and lost all communications. Somehow we were able to make it back into space and we are now blasting towards Alpha Genesis.” Then there was silence. “James,” Jess said gently, “don’t worry about it. What’s done is done. We all make mistakes, and we’re bound to make them again. Whatever you did in your past, and whatever you’re bound to do in the future, it’s all in your hands. I have no right to judge your decisions.” This made James uncomfortable. Everyone judged his decisions, from Jessie and Meouth to Ash and the twerps. What made Jess different?” A green light began to flash. Jess looked down at the console, where a large green light pulsed eerily. Jess read the caption above the light. “Radiation alert?” he wondered out loud. He checked the star map. “We’re nowhere near any known black holes or nebulas. What could be causing that?” James looked up. James began to whimper. Jess looked in his direction. His face was paralyzed with fear. Jess followed his line of vision. Then his mouth dropped in horror. Chapter Seven Palkia and the Final Frontier An immense Pokémon had appeared in front of the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven. Its long neck was striped with large purple lines. On both of its shoulders were huge, pearl like stones, glowing with a mesmerizing pulse. It hung in space with an air of superiority never before seen by man. “No…” Jess murmured. He looked at the star map again. They were a five day’s ride away from Alpha Genesis. Then something clicked in his mind. He switched off autopilot and tried to maneuver around the huge monster before them. “What is that?” James managed to stutter. “If my ancient history is correct,” Jess spoke as he violently jerked the control stick, “the creature before us is Palkia, the space-ruling Pokémon. In the beginning of time, there were five original Pokémon: Kyogre, king of the sea, Groudon, ruler of the land, Palkia, commander of space, and Dialga, emperor of time, and the leader of all Pokémon, whose name has never been found.” He continued to maneuver, but Palkia was too quick for Jess. Every move he made, Palkia was one step ahead of him. “According to legend, after the leader of Pokémon created the galaxy, Palkia controlled the flow of space, and Dialga began the march of time. Kyogre and Groudon began to create worlds for future Pokémon to inhabit. The first of which being Alpha Genesis.” “But why is he here?” James cried. ‘Good question,’ thought Jess. He tried moving back and forth, but Palkia moved with such speed and grace it was impossible to elude it. Jess then had an idea. A terrible idea, but an idea. He engaged retro rockets, causing the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven to travel in reverse. “What are you doing?” James asked nervously. Jess turned to James and smiled. “A little chicken, anyone?” James’s eyes grew wide. “No…” he moaned, but Jess just laughed, and hit the red button. The ship lurched forward. Palkia’s eyes glowed red, a dark, angry shade of red. With an enraged roar, it created a window in space. Jess gasped in surprise, but it was too late to stop the ship. The Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven launched into a swirling vacuum of hyperspace. The cockpit suddenly became very cold. James could see his breath come out of his mouth and freeze to the front window. Icicles began to grow from the ceiling. Jess could hear the ship begin to groan and creak. The Mossdeep City Space Agency had considered hyperspace travel for the mission, but they couldn’t build a rocket that could survive the immense, horrific pressure of the subspace vacuum. In an instant, the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven began to pull itself apart. Jess could see instruments and tools go swirling into the abyss. Off of his belt, Charmander’s Pokéball flew into the air and dissolved into shards. James was sucked off into a gigantic color cyclone. Then it was Jess’s turn… But nothing happened. Instead, everything seemed to happen in reverse. Charmander’s Pokéball rematerialized before his eyes. James flew back from oblivion. The ship began to reform around them. Suddenly, in a flash of light, the ship exited the vortex, and was thrust straight towards a planet. Jess groaned loudly. “Not again…” he began, but then he started to recognize continents and land masses. ‘It’s home…’ he thought. A radio transmission came in. “What happened P1007? You disappeared from our scopes…” Jess hit the off button. He didn’t need that right now. A large metal mass moved right in front of the speeding spacecraft. Jess tried to turn, but it was no use. The Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven tore right through it. Jess sighed, then looked at the console, which had lit up like a Christmas tree. “Loss of landing gear, loss of wing control, loss of retro rockets, fuel line torn…” Jess read aloud. “Well,” he said to James, “isn’t this going to be interesting…” James was too terrified to speak or move. The cockpit began to heat up. “We’re entering the atmosphere,” Jess muttered to himself. He could see he was flying over the continent of Johto. He recognized the looming form of Mt. Silver, which came very close… There was a terrible scraping noise as the ship skinned the peak of the mountain. The ship began to spin wildly and out of control. Jess could just make out the caption over another red light: Loss of right wing. “Isn’t this peachy,” he muttered. The altitude meter measured the ship at just over ten thousand feet. Jess caught the sight of the Indigo Plateau and other Kanto landmarks as the ship plummeted to the ground. “Five thousand feet,” Jess groaned. A red light began to flash. James had his hands over his face. “Two thousand feet…” The Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven was over the ocean now. In the distance Jess could see the towers of Rustboro City growing taller, and then… SPLASH! The rocket collided with the water. Jess looked at the window, through which he could see schools of Remoraid, Luvdisk, and other such water Pokémon. ‘Well,’ he thought, ‘at least I’m back.’ Overhead he could hear the roar of helicopter rotors. He sighed happily. Apparently Mission Control had been keeping a watchful eye on him. He felt a sudden jerk, it appeared that the helicopter pilots were disconnecting the cockpit from the rest of the rocket and preparing to lift the cosmonauts to safety. He heard the rotors increase in speed, then felt his craft being lifted into the air. Once they were out of the water, Jess looked down at the rest of the Pidgeot Ten- Oh-Seven as it sank into the sea. He sighed, remembering the time he spent watching it being built, the amount of apparent effort that had been put into designing it, the moments he lay dreading zero-hour on launch day…finally the tail of the rocket rose into the air as the craft sped into the vast sea. One day it would be a habitat for deep sea Pokémon like Corsola and Octillery. Then, eventually, the metallic shell would rust away into small shards of dust. Jess nudged James, who still had been covering his eyes, whimpering the entire time. “Dude, James,” he said quietly. James opened his eyes. “We’re back home.” James’s face brightened. “You mean…” “Yes!” Jess cheered. “We’re going home! Back to Mossdeep for me, and…wherever you are from.” James said nothing. He felt the twinge of pain that reminded him that he was a drifter with no home. Jess looked out the window again. Below them was the towering Mt. Pyre. Jess could hardly contain his excitement. It was only a matter of time before the capsule would be set down on the Mossdeep City launch pad. He looked at the photograph of Sophia that he had stuck to the window. ‘I told you that I would be back, Sophia,’ he thought. He could make out the form of the Mossdeep Island. James heard the rotors of the helicopter above them begin to slow down. The capsule was slowly lowered to the launch pad. With a soft thud, it hit the ground. Jess and James were slightly perturbed, but the feeling didn’t last long. Jess pulled his Pokéball from his belt. It seemed that it had been ripped to shreds moments before, but now it was in his hand, good as new. He threw it to the floor. Once again, Charmander burst forth from nothingness into reality. “Char, char!” he happily addressed his friend. Jess led him to the door of the capsule and opened it. When he stepped out into the bright sunlight, the first thing he noticed was the spontaneous roar of applause. He looked to the roof of the Mission Control. Another huge crowd had assembled, even bigger than before. Looking around, he saw there were people cheering all around him, on the metal catwalks that had once supported the Pidgeot Ten-Oh-Seven, all around the launch pad, on top of vans…if there was a place a person could stand, there was one there. Jess looked up, and shielded his eyes from the blinding light. He had almost forgotten how the sun had felt. He walked forward, to where a police barricade had been set up to protect Jess from the crowding paparazzi. He looked into the lenses of the many television broadcast cameras. He knew millions of people around the world were looking back. “Mr. Badlett! Mr. Badlett!” The press clamored, almost demanding that their questions be answered. But then they all suddenly stopped, and looked past Jess. Jess, bewildered, turned around. James had exited the rocket. As he watched James walk towards him, he could hear the reporters telling their stories.” “This is Pofty with ONBS News…” “…in a stunning development, missing person James…” “…Kadabra, appears from the believed doomed rocket…” “…more on this story as it develops…” Jess sighed. Just as he decided to walk forward to the press to explain what had happened, three large security guards from the Space Agency whisked Jess and James away into the Mission Control building, through a door labeled “Personnel Only”. Jess and James were led into chairs, in front of a man in a dark suit. “Hello,” he addressed the two cosmonauts politely. “My name is Mr. Pokémon. I would like to talk to you about your experience in space.” Jess and James proceeded to tell Mr. Pokémon everything that had happened to them on their epic adventure. As they continued, Mr. Pokémon nodded and smiled at appropriate parts. When Jess mentioned the gargantuan Palkia, Mr. Pokémon actually gasped. “Palkia…” he murmured to himself. “We had heard of sightings of Dialga in Shinnou, but Palkia…go on, go on, what happens next?” Jess told Mr. Pokémon about the wormhole that they had traveled through, and their experience of crashing back into the planet’s atmosphere. When they had finished, Mr. Pokémon sighed. “Well, you sure have proven a lot to us with your mission, Mr. Badlett. Knowing that the same species of Pokémon that live here live on other planets as well…that’s history in the making! But your encounter with Palkia is very disturbing to us. It appears that the planet Alpha Genesis is under guard by the fiercest of Pokémon, leading us to believe that there must be some terrible secret guarded there… “But, the good news is, you two are home safe and sound, soon to be reunited with your families. I must warn you though, while I think you should tell your families what happened to you up there, it would not be wise to let this information leak out to the press. Do you understand?” Jess and James nodded. Mr. Pokémon led them to another door. Behind which was… “Sophia!” Jess cried in pure joy. The two ran to each other and embraced. Jess ran his hand through Sophia’s hair. “I thought I was never going to see you again.” “I know…it was so terrible for me, waiting…and then when they thought you were dead…I didn’t know what to do…” “It’s all better now…” Jess said softly. Sophia looked into his eyes. “So…what did you find up there?” she asked him. “I found out…that there are some things in the world that maybe we just aren’t supposed to know yet. Maybe one day…but not today.” “Oh…but what kept you going, in isolation up there?” “A little song going through my head… ‘…and all the science, I don’t understand. It’s just my job, five days a week; a rocket-man…a rocket-man…’” Sophia smiled and began to sing along. “…and I think it’s going to be a long, long time, ‘til touchdown brings me ‘round again to find…” James stood in the corner, longing to be noticed. When Sophia had said, ‘What kept you going, in isolation up there…’ he turned around and left. He walked up to the roof of the Mission Control, where the mobs of screaming people still stood. Then, as if by a strange miracle, he noticed a standout red hairdo in the crowd. “Jessie!” he called out. She turned around, with Meouth on her shoulder. “James!” she shouted back. When he ran up to her, she grabbed his ear. “Where were you? We couldn’t pull off any heists without you…well we can’t really pull them off with you either…” “I…uh…stowed away in the rocket and was stuck in space…” James started, muttering the last part so hopefully Jessie wouldn’t hear him. But she did. “Wow, that’s impressive. Did you get any Pokémon?” James sighed. “I didn’t. And I won’t anymore. I’m quitting Team Rocket; I’m just not made for a life of crime.” Jessie was stunned. She couldn’t believe what she heard. Neither could Meouth. After an awkward silence, Jessie spoke again. “I guess we never did let you in on our master plan…” she mumbled. James looked up. “What?” Jessie and Meouth looked back and forth between them. ‘Well, I guess all secrets come out eventually…’ “We had been planning to quit Team Rocket after we had worked up enough money. We’d use the organization to make some cash, then leave to start our own group. I mean, listen to the motto; to protect the world from devastation, to unite all peoples within our nation…does that sound like Team Rocket to you? Once we had the money, we’d go legit. That was our plan all along…” James beamed. He was back on board. “Well then, let’s go make some money!” Jessie smiled darkly. ‘Yes, let’s…’ The End In the next novel by Matt… Few trainers have scaled its peak…. Fewer still know the true extent of wonder and terror concealed within… Follow the mysterious Dragon Master to the top of the Pokémon world on a quest to find the ultimate Pokémon, one with the power to turn back the hands of Death… Come back to see: Mount Silver Expedition: The Roof of the Pokémon World You may reach the summit, but you will not return… 22