Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Ripples ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

“I don’t get it,” said the boy.
“Me neither,” said Steve.
“What’s going on here?” said the girl holding the white egg with the red and blue triangles.
“Pi?” said the boy’s pikachu. ("Huh?")
“YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY HAIR!” screeched Jessie with a look of absolute fury on her face. “Go, Arbok! Go, Lickitung!”
The two poké balls thrown by Jessie coalesced into my Arcanine, Wanderlust, and my Charizard, Firestorm.
James threw a poké ball. “Go, Weezing!”
The pokémon that came out looked a cell that was in the process of dividing.
That’s the ugliest looking pokémon I’ve ever seen, I thought.
Wanderlust and Firestorm found themselves looking at the bunch of us. The boy replied by taking two poké balls off his belt.
“Go Squirtle! Go Pidgeotto! Go Pikachu!” cried the boy as Squirtle and Pidgeotto emerged from their poké balls.
“Grr, I forgot! She’s got my pokémon! Fine! Arcanine, ember! Charizard, flamethrower! Incinerate that girl!”
Merlin cried, “Kadabra!” ("No!")
“Kerri, have you totally flipped?!” said Steve.
“Weezing, smoke screen attack at that Arcanine and Charizard!” said James.
“Weezing,” ("Yes, Master".) replied the ugly pokémon as thick black choking smoke filled the air, enveloping Wanderlust and Firestorm and spreading out to the rest of us.
We all started coughing.
“James, you traitor, why did you try to stop me!” cried Jessie from somewhere behind the smog.
“Jessie, you almost committed suicide! That’s your body!” cried James.
I heard the others say, "Huh?"
“Man, I gotta stop drinking Jolt,” said Steve.
Before my pokémon could act, I sent telepathically, <<Firestorm, Wanderlust, stop! That is not me next to that man.>>
“Ar Arcanine!” ("Why are you telling us to attack that woman!") cried Wanderlust.
“Char Charizard!” ("And what are Jade and Merlin doing over by her! What’s going on?") cried Firestorm.
<<No, I didn’t. It’s not easy to explain, but a stranger is inhabiting my body, and I am inhabiting hers. We’ve switched places, so right now, I’m the redheaded woman.>> I sent.
I heard the others cough. “Pidgeotto, gust attack! Blow away the smoke!” yelled the boy.
“Pidgeo!” ("Yes, Ash!") said the Pidgeotto as the smoke cleared.
When the smoke cleared, we found James restraining me. I mean Jessie.
“Don’t listen to her, Arcanine, Charizard! She’s having an identity crisis!” yelled James, who had a hand over my (her) mouth.
Steve stared. He was torn between helping the person he thought was me and processing what he’d just seen.
“Arcanine arc.” ("Who do we believe?") said Wanderlust.
“Ka kadabra. Kadabra kadabra kadabra.” ("Believe Kerri. And that man. And I myself have seen this with my mind. Do not attack".)
“Char?!” ("What?!")
“Pi pikachu!” ("Listen to Merlin! I know it sounds crazy, but I was there, and I saw the whole thing!") cried Jade.
<<Wanderlust, Firestorm--I haven’t called you by your species name in a long time. Why would I start to do so again?>> I sent.
The newcomers and Steve watched the proceedings in total confusion.
I heard a familiar voice gasp. Then it yelled, “Oakheart! Use your vine whip to restrain that guy holding Kerri!”
“Venusaur!” ("Okay!") said Oakheart as it restrained James.
“Unhand me! Let me go! You’ve got to stop her from incinerating Jessie! I mean, Kerri!” cried James.
Nigel muttered, "What has he been smoking?"
“Nigel, you should listen to him! Kerri’s been acting weird!” Steve cried.
Jessie slipped free and looked at the new arrival. “Thanks,” she said. She looked at my brother appreciatively.
“Nigel! Oh, I’m so glad to see you!” I cried. Oh, my brother had shown up just in time!
My brother, who had collar-length wavy blond hair and brown eyes, was wearing a gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, and hiking boots. He had two other pokémon with him, Hans (his Machop) and Monev (his Ekans). His eyes widened in surprise, and he looked at me in amazement at my--no, Jessie's--beauty. Even without my telepathy,. I could tell that he found her body attractive, but concern for me--or rather, the person he thought was me--quickly pushed those thoughts out of his consciousness. I was quite thankful for that. I knew that he didn't know, but still, it was unnerving!
"So am I--I-I mean, I don't know you," Nigel said confusedly to me. Addressing Jessie, he continued, "Kerr, are you okay?"
“I'm fine, no thanks to him!" she said, indicating James. She then glared at me and clenched her fist. “We’re not through yet! All right, Arcanine, Charizard, obey me!”
Wanderlust and Firestorm shook their heads.
“Arca nine arc,” said Wanderlust. ("We won’t obey such an order.")
"Zard Charizard," said Firestorm. ("Now I'm convinced. She'd never tell us to attack a human unless she was in danger or we needed to defend ourselves.")
Nigel looked puzzled.
“You see what I mean?” said Steve.
“What?! You won’t obey me! Fine, I’ll get someone else who will!” She threw the last two remaining poké balls, which coalesced into Stinger, my Beedrill, and Breezy, my Pidgeot.
She pointed at me. “Beedrill, Twin Needle attack! Pidgeot, Wing Attack!”
Both Stinger and Breezy looked confusedly at Jessie. Merlin filled them in on what had happened. They seemed confused, so I told them telepathically what I’d told the others. They looked at me.
“Yeah, I think I do,” said Nigel to Steve. Then he said, “Kerr, what do you think you’re doing! And what are Jade and Merlin doing over by that woman?”
“Nigel, I’m Kerri. I don’t know how else to say this, but I’ve switched bodies with Jessie of Team Rocket,” I said.
<<Nigel, I'm not kidding about this. It's true.>> I sent to him.
“It’s true!” cried James.
“Yeah, and I'm going to turn into an Articuno when the sun goes down,” said Nigel sarcastically. He wasn’t buying it, which was not too surprising.
Why did this have to happen on April Fool’s Day? I thought.
He looked at me and said, “Let me guess. My sister put you up to this. Fine! Okay, Kerr, Happy April Fool’s Day! Ha ha! Now cut it out!"
“Sister?” said Jessie, who looked considerably deflated. James started giggling, whereupon Jessie whacked him over the head with a fan.
Merlin and Jade cried in their languages, “It’s not a joke!”
"This gets weirder and weirder," said the girl.
“All right, from the beginning. Who are all of you people, anyway?” said Nigel.
The boy said, “I’m Ash Ketchum, and I'm going to be the world's greatest pokémon master! This is Misty--” he indicated the girl with the strange ponytail-- “and that’s Brock. The guy your Venusaur is holding is James. The redheaded woman next to us is Jessie. They’re both members of Team Rocket, and they’re up to no good as usual. We don’t know who the other girl is.”
“That, normally, would be me, Kerri Vanderhorn,” I said. “But as I said, Jessie and I have switched bodies.”
James’s eyes widened in astonishment. He sneaked a glance at me, then at Nigel.
“The guy with the brown hair is my cousin, Steve Vanderhorn, and I’m Nigel Vanderhorn,” said Nigel. “And I’m really confused.”
“I don’t know if I believe this,” said Ash.
“It’s possible, Ash,” said Brock. “They’ve been acting weird. Jessie hasn’t been wearing her Team Rocket uniform, and that girl has been reciting the Team Rocket motto with James.”
“And she went totally ballistic when she saw Jessie’s hair,” said Misty. She stopped a moment. "What did happen to Jessie's hair, anyway?"
"I cut it so that I would be less recognizable," I said.
Misty blinked in surprise. Jessie looked like she was about to strangle me, but growls from Wanderlust and Firestorm stopped her where she was.
Nigel looked both confused and unconvinced, so I sent, <<Actually, Nigel, that’s Jessie. I’m--occupying--the redheaded woman’s body. Nigel, I’m not joking.>>
How else can I convince him? I thought. Wait--I doubt that Jessie knows how to draw, and even if she does, I doubt she could copy my style!
Out loud, I said, “Nigel, bring me two sketchpads and some drawing pencils and I’ll prove it to you.”
Nigel blinked, then said, “Machop, go back to the house and get two sketchpads and pencils. Hurry!”
Machop ran off. Shortly thereafter, it came back with two sketchpads and pencils.
“Now, give one to me and one to her,” I said.
Jessie nervously accepted the sketchpad and pencil and surreptitiously looked at James, who was still being held by Oakheart.
“Okay, if you really are my sister, sketch a portrait of Hans and me!” said Nigel.
I took the pencil and pad and set to work.
Jessie whispered to James, “Maybe we should leave.” As she did so, she found Monev behind her. “Then again, maybe not...”
James, who was still being held by Oakheart, shrugged helplessly.
Jessie started nervously sketching.
“Um, could you please get your Venusaur to let me go?” pleaded James.
"I don't know about that," said Nigel. "I'm tempted to turn you over to the cops because you're a member of Team Rocket."
"No, please don't do that!" yelped James.
<<Nigel, don't. We need his help,>> I sent.
Nigel grumbled. “All right, Oakheart, let him go, but if he tries anything, sit on him!”
James squealed slightly and swallowed. "I don't want to be a pancake! I'll behave!"
Meanwhile, Jessie was frantically drawing--well, more like drawing a few lines and then erasing most of them.
She snapped at Nigel, "Will you please stop moving!"
Oakheart released James. James kept glancing at Jessie, Nigel, and me, but he didn’t move from where Oakheart had put him down.
After a time, Nigel said, “Okay, let’s see what you’ve got!”
He looked at Jessie’s sketch first. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of it, and not surprisingly, it looked like it had been done by a first grader. Nigel snorted in irritation. "This joke is getting old really fast," he said.
Then he went over to look at my sketch, which had captured them quite nicely (I don’t mean to sound conceited, but I am a talented artist) and neatly signed “Kerri PineVanderhorn”
(I figured using my middle name, which was also my mother's birth name, would help.)
His mouth dropped open.
“Now do you believe me, Nigel?” I said.
My brother looked at me in amazement, then hugged me tightly.
“I’m sorry I doubted you, Kerr,” he said.
Steve sighed sadly. “I meet the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life, and her body is being occupied by my cousin! This is torture! What did I do to deserve this?”
Ash, Misty, and Brock came over to look at the sketch. “Wow! That’s really good!” cried Ash. “But I’m still not sure I believe this.”
“I do,” said Misty. “Think. If Jessie could draw like this, would she need to steal pokémon?”
“And besides, ‘Kerri’ has been acting just like Jessie, and ‘Jessie’ has been acting nice. My men’s intuition tells me that weird as it sounds, it’s true,” said Brock.
“Pikachu, what do you think?” said Ash.
Pikachu looked at me (in Jessie’s body) and Jessie (in my body) and said, “Pi pikachu.” ("I believe it now.")
“I guess you’re right,” said Ash, looking perplexed. “But I still don’t get it. How did this happen? How did you guys end up switching?”
“It’s all her fault!” cried Jessie.
“It is not,” I sighed. “I don’t know how this happened.”
“Is too!” retorted Jessie.
“Is not!”
“Is too!”
“Ladies! How do we know that anyone caused it!” cried Nigel. “Um, it’s getting dark, and maybe we’d all feel better if we came inside and had something to eat.”
“Food! That’s a great idea!” cried James.
Jessie promptly smacked James. “Can’t you ever think of anything else?”
Nigel and I shuddered as we saw Jessie smack him.
“Um, are you sure, Nigel?” I inquired. Man, I’ve never looked so nasty, have I? Wait, that’s not me. It is, but--oh, never mind. I can’t think about this anymore!
“Well, it’ll keep at least some of them occupied,” sighed Nigel. Nigel turned to Ash, Misty and Brock and pointed at Team Rocket. “You know these guys?"
“Unfortunately,” sighed Misty. “But I guess food is a good idea.”
Nigel eyed James. "There's just one thing before we go get the food," said Nigel. "I don't want you wearing that uniform."
James blinked and said, "Um...okay. I need to get some clothes from the balloon. I'll be right back."
James disappeared for a short time, and when he returned, he was wearing a black leather jacket, a red shirt, a pair of jeans, and black boots.
Nigel told his Ekans and his Oakheart to stand guard, while I recalled Firestorm to its poké ball; Wanderlust, Jade, and Merlin followed me. Then we led Ash and his friends as well as Team Rocket to our house.
We arrived at the house and went inside, where a horrible sight greeted my eyes. Pizza boxes and soda cans, which were interspersed with a few beer bottles, were strewn everywhere, and dishes were piled in the sink.
I gasped. Wanderlust howled. “I’m sorry, but Hurricane Nigel has struck again!” I glared daggers at my brother.
“Well, how was I supposed to know we were having company?” retorted Nigel. "You weren't supposed to be back for another two days, and the guys just left a little while ago!"
“I’m gone two days and the place looks like a hurricane hit it!” I yelled. "I know you wanted to have a good time, but why do you have to be such slobs? Okay, they were guests, but I'm not the maid!"
"Hey! It was supposed to be my slob vacation, remember, Kerr?" he said.
I sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry, Nigel...I just haven't been myself lately."
Everyone groaned.
"Slob vacation?" said Misty.
"Um...you see, my brother likes things messy. I like them to be neater. So that we can live with each other, we worked out a compromise. Every so often, I go off for a while and he can be as messy as he wants while I'm gone, but he has to clean up before I come back. But I came back early because of this--situation." Lowering my voice, I said, "I think he does this because he wants to attract a Grimer or a M--"
"Pikapi, pikachu, chu!" cried Ash's Pikachu. ("Ash, what's that thing over there?")
Ash looked and cried, "Aaah! Something just crawled out of your fireplace!"
We all turned and looked. Something had indeed crawled out of the fireplace. It was black and about a foot and a half tall. Walking on two legs, it staggered out of our fireplace and into the living room, leaving sooty footprints behind it.
"He actually did it," I said. "Congratulations, Nigel--I think you just got a Grimer."
"Kerr, it's too short to be a Grimer," replied Nigel.
The "Grimer" sneezed and said in a very familiar voice, "Hey! Who ya callin' short? Me-owth! I hate soot! Especially dirty soot! Don't ya ever clean your fireplace?!"
"So that's where the mangy furball got to," said Jessie.
James went over to Meowth and said, "Not another word about Jessie's hair! Not if you want to live to see tomorrow!"
Meowth grunted and said, "I don't want to go down no more chimneys. Hey, I ain't Santa Claus. 'Sides, I wanna know what's goin' on 'round here, and I ain't gonna find dat out if I'm travelin' Air Jessie."
Brock held his head and cried, “I--I can’t stand it! Somebody give me a broom or something, please!”
I said, “You sure? I mean, you’re a guest.”
“Please! I can’t stand looking at this mess, and I want to help!” cried Brock.
“Ooookayyyy," I said with confusion in my voice as I handed him a broom, dustpan and apron, whereupon he launched into a cleaning frenzy. I started helping him, but I was forced to desist after being trampled twice in the first two minutes.
Nigel said to Ash and Misty, “Is he always like this?”
“Um, yeah,” said Ash. Misty just sighed.
Meanwhile, Wanderlust was watching Jessie and James, who were standing around looking at things.
“This place is such a pigsty!” exclaimed Jessie.
“Well, at the rate he’s going, it won’t be for long,” said James, who was smacked in the head by a fast-moving broom. “Ow! Hey! Watch where you’re pointing that thing!”
“Don’t stand in the way!” growled Brock.
Wanderlust nodded in agreement as it was nearly hit by Brock's broom.
We all took refuge in another room while Brock finished his cleaning frenzy. During that time, Nigel gave Meowth some rags to clean himself off with. He also put in a call to my cousin, Diana. He told Diana that we needed to see her ASAP, and that she should buy some groceries for us.
When Brock was done, I went to the refrigerator to see what Nigel and his friends had left. I found some deli sandwiches and fruit juice. I set it out for them.
"Sorry we don't have more, but someone ate most of the food," I said.
“Hey, this is great!” exclaimed Ash enthusiastically.
James and Meowth were stuffing themselves. The rest of us were eating normally, except Jessie, who hardly touched her food.
We heard a car pull up. Nigel looked out the window, and he said, “It looks like Diana’s here.”
Diana came in. Like us, she was casually dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. Her dark hair was neatly braided back.
Everyone glanced up at the new arrival, and Nigel said, “Everyone, this is Diana Pine, my cousin.” With some prompting, he introduced everyone. Jessie seemed indifferent, Ash and Misty were friendly, James seemed intrigued, and Brock was utterly smitten. I could almost literally see the hearts in his eyes.
He blushed, dashed over to Diana, took her hands, and said, “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen! Will you go out with me?”
Diana was rather taken aback, then she got angry and said, “Get away from me, you maniac!”
Nigel said sharply, “Brock, leave her alone! She’s not interested!”
Brock deflated and trudged back to his seat, saying, “Shot down again. . .”
After that, Steve went to help Diana with the groceries, and Nigel explained what had happened to Jessie and me. She was skeptical until I spoke to her telepathically.
When we were done eating, Nigel said, “Okay, Kerr, so what happened? The last time I saw you, well, as yourself was the day before yesterday.”
I said, “Well, I was out hiking like I usually do. It started to rain, so I recalled Wanderlust to its poké ball--”
“Wanderlust?” said Ash.
“Oh, my Arcanine,” I continued. I then summarized what happened to me.
Nigel said, “And what happened to you, Jessie?”
Jessie folded her arms and said, “I’m not telling you anything!”
“Meowth! How else are we going to get to the bottom of this!” exclaimed Meowth.
“Meowth has a point, Jess,” said James. “I for one would like to know what happened--you never got around to telling us the whole story.”
Jessie sighed and took a deep breath. “James, Meowth, and I had just acquired a pikachu--”
“Yeah, you were trying to steal my pikachu!” cried Ash.
“Pika!” cried Pikachu angrily. ("Yeah!")
Jessie glared at Ash and continued, “--but James tripped over his own feet and dropped the container it was in. The container broke, the pikachu got scared, and thunder shocked us. I felt like I was being pulled somewhere. When I woke up, I had a terrible headache and this pikachu” --she indicated Jade, my pikachu-- “was chattering about something and when my head cleared, I saw a crisped looking Scyther on the ground." After that, she pretty much said what Jade and Merlin had told me.
“It’s true I took your money, and I’ll give you that back, but you also stole my pokémon,” I replied.
“And you took mine!” cried Jessie.
“True,” I said. “But who are they going to obey right now? Merlin and Jade were able to convince Firestorm and Wanderlust of who I am because Merlin is psychic and they all know each other, but your pokémon don’t know my Merlin. If they were let out right now, they’d listen to me, not you. To them, you’re a stranger.”
“It’s not fair!” cried Jessie. “Why do I end up with nothing? You’ve got my pokémon and even my body! And yours won’t listen to me because of your Kadabra! I don’t understand how this happened! The brat’s pikachu has zapped me I don’t know how many times, and nothing like this ever happened!”
“And I got zapped too, but I didn’t switch bodies with anybody,” said James.
“Me neither,” said Meowth.
I said, “There’s got to be something else going on here. Thousands of people get hit by electricity every year, but they don’t switch bodies. Why did we?”
“You’re right,” said Misty.
Everyone started thinking. Ash had an incredible look of concentration on his face. Jessie glared at me.
“I’m going to get you for ruining my hair! Just for that I’m going to--I’m going to--argh! There isn’t anything I can do to make this body any worse! It’s awful! Flat chest, no figure, and pathetically limp, short hair!” Jessie screamed.
Well, I suppose to her my hair was short. After all, until recently, hers had been down past her butt, and mine was only down to my shoulders.
“Wait! I just noticed something!” said Misty. “You both have similar necklaces!”
“We do?” I said. I peered down at what I was wearing. I hadn’t noticed it much last night, but there it was: a gold necklace in the shape of a Rapidash hung around my neck.
“What’s a necklace got to do with any of this?” said Jessie as she peered down at mine--hers, which was in the shape of a Ponyta.
“When did you get yours?” asked Misty.
“About a month ago,” I said. “It was a birthday present.”
“Kerr, I had no idea it would do this to you,” said Nigel.
“Did any of us?” I said.
“And when did you get your necklace, Jessie?” asked Nigel.
“About three days ago. James and I found it in a jewelry box with some other stuff while we were doing some, um, gardening,” replied Jessie.
“Actually, we were digging a pit to trap the pests,” said James.
Jessie whacked him.
“If you keep doing that to him, he’s going to suffer brain damage,” I said.
"Too late," interjected Meowth.
James snarled and hit Meowth. Normally, I found it abhorrent for someone to hit his or her pokémon, but Meowth was such a smart mouth that it--no, he--deserved it. Besides, he didn't seem to belong to anyone but himself.
“So we have two necklaces and a thunder shock in common,” I said.
“And the last time that those guys tried to take Pikachu was last night,” said Ash.
“After I got the necklace,” said Jessie. “Great. So we switched because of these necklaces and a thunder shock? How do we get back to normal?”
“Maybe getting zapped again would switch you back,” said James.
“What kind of a stupid idea is that!” cried Jessie, who was about to smack James when I grabbed her hand. “Hey! Let go of me!”
Why was she constantly smacking this guy? I didn’t get it.
“Do you have a better idea, Jessie?” I asked.
“No,” said Jessie.
“Let’s try it,” I replied. “But outside.”
Jessie nodded, and we all trouped outside.
“Okay, let’s stand away from the others,” I replied. “Um, Ash, we might need help from your pikachu if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, no problem,” said Ash. “It’ll be a pleasure to zap Jessie again." He grinned, and Pikachu nodded.
“Just get on with it,” growled Jessie.
Jessie and I stood together. “Okay Jade, when I give you the word, zap me.”
Jade looked at me sadly. “Pi ka,” said Jade. ("I don’t want to hurt you.")
"It don't want to hurt ya," said Meowth. Of course, I knew that already, but I didn't say anything.
I knelt down and said, “I know you don’t want to hurt me, Jade, but it might be the only way we can get back to normal.”
Jade looked sad, but then it nodded. I went back to stand near Jessie (not that I really wanted to), but what choice did I have?
“Ok, let’s do it! Jade--” I cried.
“Pikachu--” cried Ash.
“Thunder shock!” Ash and I cried together.
“PikaCHUUUU!” cried Pikachu and Jade together as they unleashed their electrical attack at Jessie and me. We screamed as the lightning hit us.
After what seemed like an eternity (but was actually only a few moments), the two pikachu ceased their thunder shock and waited. Everyone looked nervously at us.
I had dropped to my knees, panting. So was Jessie. When my vision cleared, I looked down at my hands. Instead of the dark blue fingerless gloves I normally wore, I saw bare hands. I stretched out an arm and saw a black leather sleeve. I pushed my hair forward, and it was red. Then I looked to where Jessie had been standing, and I realized I was still looking in a mirror. I was still in Jessie’s body. She looked at me and realized that she was still in my body.
“It didn’t work!” we cried in unison.
“Maybe you have to stand further apart,” said Brock.
“Gladly,” said Jessie as we moved further apart.
Ash’s and my pikachu zapped us again, but it didn’t work.
Ash said, “Hey, maybe to switch bodies again, you’ve got to switch necklaces, too!”
Jessie growled and glanced at me. We exchanged necklaces.
“Okay, let’s do this again,” I said. We repeated the thunder shock, but nothing happened.
“Hmm...Pikachu, give my brain a charge,” said Ash. Pikachu shocked him, and then he said, “Hmm...maybe if you two stood in buckets of water, held hands and then grabbed a pikachu by the tail...”
“That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, twerp! I’m not holding her hand!” exclaimed Jessie.
“Neither am I!” I cried. "Gross! And I'm not standing in any buckets of water, either!"
Pikachu glared at Ash and shocked him, crying, “Ka Chu!” ("That’s stupid!")
“And nobody’s grabbing my tail!” cried Jade.
“Where does he come up with these things?” said Misty as she rolled her eyes skyward.
Brock just looked embarrassed.


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