"Da cheek o' dat woman," Meowth muttered under his breath as he stormed back through Prisma Town, arms tightly folded and ignoring the odd looks from passers by who couldn't figure out why the Pokemon was walking on two legs instead of four. "If she'd jus' been a few years older I'd have given her a piece o' my mind- an' my claws too. What's she t'ink I am? Honestly... bein' too irresponsible ta keep an eye on her own Pokemon."

        Pausing his complaints so as not to arouse too much attention from a group of youthful figures dressed in traditional trainer's garb hanging around under the canopy of a juice bar, Meowth quickened his pace and slipped out of sight into a nearby alley where he was able to resume a more relaxed stance.

        "She's jus' lucky dat I care fer da wellbein' o' my companions" he remarked, passing from between the fenceposts that marked part of Prisma Town's boundary and onto the dry earth beyond. "Udderwise she wouldn't be seein her precious uniform eith-

        ARGH!"

        At that precise moment Meowth's eyes had sighted the previously abandoned pile of clothes just beside the spring's edge. Next to these lay an open Pokeball; open closer inspection this item was shown to have a small W scratched into its crimson surface. Meowth shut the Pokeball and turned it over and over in his paws, head moving slowly from side to side.

        "No..." he murmured. "Please don't say youse fell fer it too"

        Meowth felt a sharp tug upon his tail. Uttering a slight yelp, the Pokemon swung round to discover a somewhat damp-looking Wynaut standing proudly behind him. The very sight caused his heart to sink like a rock.

        "I shoulda' guessed" he sighed, readying the Pokéball to recapture his rubbery companion and prevent any needless chasing around. "Anudda mess ta contend with. Ah well, it coulda been woise."

        The Wynaut chuckled as the red beam of light from the Pokeball's central switch shot toward it. But instead of enveloping the creature upon contact, the light simply retracted back into the sphere in Meowth's paw leaving the Wynaut standing out in the open. Blinking in temporary confusion, Meowth's eyes widened in horror.

        "Oh no!" he yelped. "Da Pokeball don't even recognize you as Jessie's Pokemon any more!"

        <Who's Jessie?> came the bright inquiry. The feline's mouth dropped open slightly in response.

        "Youse don't even...remember?" he gibbered, his knees beginning to shake slightly. "Dis is bad...dis is real bad...

        ...Jess is gonna kill me!"

        The Wynaut seemed neither afraid nor concerned over this spasm of panic being emitted from his taller associate. Instead it snatched up one of James' boots, placed it upside down upon his head and did a little dance. 

        <Play with me!> it exclaimed, before dashing headlong back toward the town square. Meowth uttered a distressed gasp before swinging round, hurriedly gathering the remainder of Jessie and James' clothing from the ground (complete with the Pokéballs attached to their belts) and ran after its escaping charge.

        "Dere ain't time fer dis, ya moron!" he exclaimed, looking behind him to make sure he'd not dropped anything in his pursuit. "We gots a mission to complete and it's gotta be done before-"

        At this point Meowth had turned his head back the right way round only to come face to face with a delicious-looking, heavily-filled sandwich. Lowering his flippers slightly, the Wynaut gave Meowth an expectant glance.

        <You hungry?>

        Hungry was rather an understatement. Meowth could already feel his stomach practically throwing itself around inside of him upon sight of the tasty snack. Completely forgetting about his objective while his appetite took over, the Pokemon placed the clothing he was holding upon the cobblestones beside him and reached out both paws before retrieving the sandwich and taking a huge bite from it.

        "T'anks, kid!" he grinned, his mouth full. As the hunger began to calm down however, logic slowly took over. Looking down upon the remains of the sandwich, Meowth returned the expectant glance to the Wynaut. "Uh... where'd you get dis?"

        <It was lying on some plastic next to this guy's bag> the Wynaut grinned. Meowth swallowed hesitantly, as he spotted an angry-looking human figure storming toward him.

        "Hate ta break it to ya, kid..." he began. "But I don't t'ink dat guy was finished wit' it"

        The Pokemon groaned as his words once again evaded the hearing of his youthful associate who had now taken to bouncing around aimlessly. He picked up the clothes in one paw, snatched one of the Wynaut's flippers with the other and took off into a nearby passageway.

        "Man, I didn't t'ink ya attention span could possibly get woise but I sure was proved wrong"

        Chuckling to itself the Wynaut finally took to running of its own accord, overtaking Meowth as the angered noises of a Tyrogue echoed from behind them.

        "Yeesh, it was only one sandwich!" Meowth complained bitterly, drops of sweat now beginning to pour from his face from all the exertion in such unforgiving temperatures. "No need to get all woiked up!"

        <Can't catch me!> the blue figure squealed, slipping through a gap in the wall ahead. Meowth lunged for the gap, only to get stuck halfway. A split second later the feline Pokemon was propelled through at high speeds, yelling wildly and with a large footprint imprinted firmly upon his backside. The Wynaut watched in a semi state of awe as Meowth flew over his head and into a birdbath in a nearby garden.

        "What is dis?" he snapped at no one in particular while nearby Pidgeys gave him annoyed looks. "Cruelty to Meowth's Butt day?"       

        <You said 'butt'> Wynaut giggled, as Meowth grumpily exited the receptacle. Thankfully the hot day made getting wet a lot less discomforting. He didn't get much time to think on the matter though as his youthful companion was off again; skittering down another alleyway while holding its flippers out and making 'whoosh' noises. Meowth gritted his teeth and followed.

        "I ain't no babysitter" he muttered, glowering down at the clothing in his arms. Such lack of looking where was was walking resulted in Meowth's collision with someone's legs.

        "There he is!" an unidentifiable voice piped up. "My little Dudley!"

        "Ya little who-waaaurgh" Meowth trailed off into an amusing slur as his gaze took in the towering figure of Prisma Town's Officer Jenny standing beside a young girl who now had her hands clasped tightly around the Wynaut. Quickly falling onto his hind legs the Pokemon thrust the clothes behind him into a trash can and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. To his relief, however, it seemed the Officer Jenny had not noticed his out-of-place speech and was too busy glancing with gooey eyes at the reunion between the trainer and her long lost counterpart.

        <Hydie!> the Wynaut cried gleefully, before being retracted into a shiny blue Pokeball the girl had been holding. Despite his difficult silence Meowth was having trouble taking all of this in. So the Wynaut had been someone else's Pokemon all along! And if this was the case, then where in the world was Jessie's Wobbuffet? Fractiously awaiting the departure of Hydie and her authoritarian associate, Meowth slowly turned around to retrieve his abandoned belongings when his keen eyesight spotted yet another blue form waddling around a corner not too far away.

        "Wait up!"

        Wobbuffet stopped, only to have Meowth skid heavily into the back of him. The latter ended up flat on his back while the former took to swaying slightly as a result of the impact, the cheerful grin not leaving his face for a moment.

        <So there you are!> he exclaimed, leaning forward to help Meowth to his feet. <I'd got pretty worried when I awoke and couldn't hear Jessie's voice any more. Why on earth is she walking around naked? I mean, I know its a hot day and all... but don't other humans get upset when someone decides not to wear their clothes?>

        "She's not walkin' around naked, ya idiot" Meowth grumbled, tossing the distinctly soiled garments at Wobbuffet for him to hold. "Bathin' in dat spring caused her to get younga, and she don't fit in dose clothes any more"

        <She devolved?> Wobbuffet looked quite alarmed at this.

        "Youse could say dat" Meowth sighed, recalling the escapades with the Wynaut he had earlier.

        <Poor Jessie,> Wobbuffet commented unhappily. <I imagine she's most distressed>

        "Yes an' no," came the hesitant reply. "Needless ta say, udda matters took over her brain and she forgot about youse guys until recently. 'cept she's also kinda caught up in a mission and so I gots da job of gettin' youse back"

        <A mission?> Wobbuffet jumped, his expression reverting back to the one of enthusiastic naivety he tended to wear. <I love missions... what is it this time?>

        Meowth leant closer to his taller blue companion before placing his head before the general spot where he expected the Pokemon's ears to be and lowering his voice.

        "An excellent opportunity for a heist landed straight in our laps" he whispered. "As kids, Jessie and James have managed ta get inside Skyler Mansion. Apparently dat place is hidin' some kind o' fancy treasure, so we got to find it and snatch it before Butch and-"

        <Cassidy!> Wobbuffet hissed, pointing a flipper behind Meowth. The two Pokemon promptly dived behind a nearby wall, moments before the woman and her garishly-dressed companion wandered into view. The latter had a large satchel hooked over his shoulder.

        "Tell me again, Butch" Cassidy murmured, raising the peak of her wide-brimmed hat and lowering her sunglasses slightly to give the man a studied expression. "Why did you choose such a terribly clashing outfit to wear?"

        "Simple, Cass" Butch replied as he knelt down and placed the satchel on the ground before him. "With clothes this bad, no one will suspect I'm a stylish Team Rocket Elite agent"

        "Naturally" Cassidy smirked, wondering how her partner got the impression he was stylish in the first place.

        "Now lets not waste any more time. Set up the Adenoid Stimulatory Fabrication Unit"

        Meowth and Wobbuffet watched with growing anxiousness as Butch reached inside the satchel and brought out a laptop computer along with a smaller device which could have easily been mistaken for a digital camera had it not bore an odd set of clasps along one side and a funnel on the top. Butch set about fitting three different coloured test tubes into these clasps before plugging the device into the laptop and turning it on.

        "Excellent work," Cassidy commented, taking the laptop from Butch as it ran its start-up sequence and directing a hand toward the funnel. "Now place your face over that"

        "Me?" Butch spluttered. "Why'd I have to be the victim?"

        "You're already a fashion victim, I figured a little more victimisation couldn't hurt" Cassidy remarked dismissively. "Besides, I got to be alert to check the ASFU is working at optimum frequency"

        "Fine," Butch sighed heavily before positioning his nose and mouth in the funnel.

        "What da heck are dey doin'?" Meowth hissed, only to receive a shrug from Wobbuffet. A minute later Butch reeled back from the machine with a frantic yell, eyes wide and skin paled in a display of absolute terror. Cassidy chuckled to herself as her partner consequently leapt to his feet and began slapping himself repeatedly all over his body.

        "Get 'em off! Get 'em off me!"

        Wobbuffet suddenly felt himself being pulled forcefully back toward Prisma Town Square. Managing to right himself from the unexpected movement, he waddled up alongside Meowth's darkened countenance and gave him an inquisitive glance.

        "I've seen enough" the feline Pokemon muttered.

        <So what now?> Wobbuffet asked him.

        "We need to get da news ta Jess and Jimmy" came the stern reply. "If dat machine does what I t'ink it's doin', den we're gonna need some form of defence...

        We're runnin' out of time"

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

             The guys exchanged expressions of boredom. Kim and Misty had left them to their own devices in the lounge while they went off to coo aimlessly over Pokemon Princess Dolls. As such, the heat had become so overwhelming for the trio that they had practically stripped down to their underwear, though Ash still insisted upon wearing his Pokemon League cap.

            “And to think I could have been in Mahogany Town right now…” the trainer complained miserably, sinking further and further into the softness of the surrounding cushions while Pikachu lazed upon the sofa arm.

            “Count your blessings, Ash” Brock remarked, though he didn’t sound any more cheerful than his companion.

            “We’re in a classy house with free food and a bed for the night…what more could you ask for?” James asked, looking slightly insulted that Ash could take such generosity for granted.

            “Some fun?” was the dry reply.

            “Well…I guess you do have a point there…” James murmured. A few minutes passed, wherein the male figures continued to stare at the walls and up at the ceiling, twiddling their thumbs. James shifted his position on the sofa a little, ending up wincing as something hard jabbed into his backside. Sliding his hand under his legs, the stunted figure's face lit up as he discovered the discomfort had been due to a remote control that had become misplaced.

             "I do believe..." he began. "That I've just found our 'fun'"

            "A remote?" Brock inquired, raising an eyebrow. James scanned the multitudes of buttons tentatively.

            "Seems to be one of those multi-device kinds" he explained. "One of these buttons is bound to operate a TV"

            "What TV?" Ash protested, as Pikachu sat up and sniffed the air. James prodded one of the buttons on the remote and a loud whirr ensued. Slowly but surely, a part of the white wall in front of the sofa slid aside to reveal a massive television screen. Underneath this gargantuan display sat a video games console.

            "Well I never.." Brock gasped, as Ash just sat there with his mouth wide open. James chuckled to himself, leaping from the sofa and approaching the console.

            "Now lets see how this beauty works"