Misty fidgeted in a state of semi-consciousness. Part of her mind longed to slip back into a deeper sleep but the majority was giving off all manner of alarm signals, urging the girl to take a look around the room. Eventually she obeyed, slowly levering herself up into a sitting position before rubbing at her eyes and opening them. It took a few moments to adjust to the darkness; Misty waited in silence for the surroundings to draw into some sort of clarity.

        Then she caught sight of a green patterned six-legged object upon her legs. Ash, Brock, Pikachu and Togepi were consequently blasted awake by a loud scream.

        "There was a bug! There was a bug on meeee!" Misty exclaimed, while Pikachu tried to comfort Togepi after the egg-shaped Pokemon had become distressed from a combination of his owner's panic and the unceremonious wake-up call.

        "You must have been having a nightmare," Brock mumbled, while Ash staggering from his bed and blearily wandered toward the wall before fumbling for the light switch.

          "How on earth would any bug Pokémon get in he-"

        Light flooded into the room, and the trio and their two Pokémon accomplices gazed up in utter horror at what they saw. The walls were covered in a writhing mass of Spinarak, all jostling for space as they prepared to spin their webs across the bedroom.

        This was all Misty could take. With another blood-curdling yell she leapt from her bed, snatching Togepi up into the air before dashing out of the door. Brock was quick to follow with Ash and Pikachu in hot pursuit. A short distance down the corridor, Kim stood clasping Nico tightly and looking most alarmed at the Kakuna that were attached to the ceiling.

        Ruby stepped from her room only to be hit with several stone of Brock who had hurriedly rushed to the woman's aid. After picking herself from the floor she quickly surveyed the scene.

        "Wh-what's going on?" Misty stammered at Ruby, twitching her head from left to right in her fervent attempts to make sure nothing else was on her.

        "Why all these bug Pokémon all of a sudden?"

        "I don't know," Ruby frowned, motioning for her sister to approach so she could keep her safe.

        "But however they got in here, we need to get them out."

        "I got a Cyndaquil!" Ash announced proudly.

        "If there's anything that bug Pokémon hate, its fire."

        "And houses don't stand up too well against that kind of thing either," Brock remarked.

        "Our options are pretty limited if we want to keep this place in tact."

        Misty interrupted the discussion with a yelp of terror, pointing a shaking hand out over the heads of her associates. Not too far away a swarm of angered Beedrill hovered, ready for pursuit.

        "RUN!" the water Pokémon trainer screeched, shutting her eyes tight and dashing in the opposite direction. Ruby, Kim and Brock didn't hesitate to follow but Ash took a different stance. Thrusting his arm out toward the Beedrill he gave Pikachu the order to shock them all senseless. With a nod of recognition the electric Pokémon moved forward and released a powerful thunderbolt down the corridor.

        Ash grinned triumphantly to himself as the electricity engulfed the Beedrill swarm with a sharp crackle, shattering some of the ceiling bulbs in the process. But once the light dimmed, the poison type bug Pokémon appeared completely unharmed, though no happier as a result of such an assault. Ash and Pikachu yelped as they were barraged with several rounds of Poison Sting. This unexpected invulnerability spooked the trainer so much that he couldn't help but turn tail and run from the scene with Pikachu in tow. Soon the rest of the group drew back into his sights.

        "This is crazy!" Ash exclaimed.

        "First a room full of Spinarak and then Beedrill that aren't affected by electricity... I got to be imagining things!"

        Brock flinched and skidded to a halt, causing Ruby, Kim and Ash to do the same.

        "Hold on," he muttered in the trainer's direction.

        "You might be on to something here."

        "Wait up, Misty!" Kim called down the corridor. The remainder of the group looked up, realising they were missing a member, and uttered a gasp as a second swarm of Beedrill rounded the corner, directly entering Misty's path. Skidding to a halt upon hearing Kim's exclamation, the water Pokémon trainer opened her eyes and was confronted with a most horrific sight.

        She was staring through a Beedrill!

        The others looked on in astonishment and deep confusion as Misty stood paralysed with fear amongst the Beedrill swarm. Somehow one of the bug Pokémon had become displaced around the girl's head, its body having become semi-transparent in the process.

        "It's an hallucination!" Ruby concluded angrily, while Ash rubbed his shoulders and muttered it was a rather painful hallucination.

        "I don't care what it is," Misty screamed.

        "Just make it GO AWAY!"

        "I'd love to, but I don't have any Pokémon of capable of seeing through hallucinations," Ruby groaned. Ash leapt to the rescue, throwing one of his Pokéballs toward the Beedrill,"

        "Noctowl, use foresight!"

        With a loud trill the light brown coloured bird Pokémon appeared from the light with its eyes glowing red. But nothing happened. This didn't placate Misty in the slightest.

        "What kind of messed up hallucination is this?" she bellowed.

        "Obviously not one affecting the eyes," Ruby commented.

        "Otherwise Noctowl's foresight should have made those bug Pokémon disappear"

        "Who said it would have to affect the eyes directly?" Brock exclaimed, striking another idea.

        "Remember that time in ShikaVille and how that one Stantler managed to fool us into thinking there was a whole herd of its kind? This hallucination must be caused in the same way; through the distribution of some mind-altering scent!"

        "Cover up your nose and mouth," Ruby told her younger sister, while Ash ordered Noctowl to use Gust. Misty staggered slightly before falling to the ground as a result of the buffeting winds. Once she had scrambled back to her feet the girl was overjoyed to find the Beedrill swarms and Kakuna attached to the ceiling of the corridor were beginning to fade from sight.

        "Thank goodness..." Misty sighed heavily, while Ruby passed her and headed round the corner without a word. Kim followed, looking somewhat worried.

        "What's going on, sis?" she asked softly, keeping Nico close.

        "We have to visit dad's vault," came the simple reply.

        "I got the feeling there's trouble going on in there."

        The trio of trainers exchanged withering looks as they heard this. They were pretty certain of whom happened to be causing the trouble. However, the source of the trouble they happened to be considering were currently suffering from a spot of trouble of their own.

         “See? What did I tell you?" James remarked casually.

        "Nothing good would come of this, and I was right.”

        “Shut up, James,” Jessie muttered irritably, struggling to free her wrists. The duo had recently regained consciousness to find themselves bound together, back to back, in a small boiler room with only the light from the doorway to see by. This situation alone was bad enough without having James harping on about how right he had been.

        “There’s got to be a way out of this.”

       “You’re not going to still try and steal those fossils Jess…are you?” James whined, turning his face with its pleading expression toward his partner. Jessie looked up with a furious glare but it was quick to melt away from a mixture of resignation and despair.

        “Ok. You win,” she sniffed finally.

“I won't take the fossils. But neither am I going to let Cassidy get away with them either. She has no right to the credit”

        “Fine with me” James beamed. He was just happy Jessie had cooperated with his wishes for once.

        “Now to figure a plan of escape,” the red-head announced, casting her gaze about the room once more. So did James, but after five minutes of careful scrutiny the pair still came to the same conclusion.

        “There’s no exit except the door, Jess. Besides…we need to break out of these ropes first.”

        “I know that, genius!” Jessie snapped.

        “But we’re tied together really tightly, it’s not like we can slip out of them…”

        Then a sly smile darkened her face as she spotted the massive cast iron boiler that stood in the corner, directly in front of her companion.

        “…or can we?”

        “No, we can’t” James shook his head. “You just said so yourself”

        “James? Kick the pipe that’s running into that boiler…”

        “Whatever for?” the man exclaimed confusedly.

        “How’s that going to get us out of here?”

        “Never mind about that!” Jessie yelled, making James wince.

        “Just do as I say! And do it hard!”

        Lifting his leg as high as he could manage James slammed the heel end of his boot full force into the pipe. It shifted slightly with a groan, then broke apart in the middle, sending a massive burst of steam into the room which cascaded over the two adults, making them cough furiously.

        “Aaaagh!” James yelled.

        “That’s boiling!”

        “Perfect” Jessie smirked, but the hissing of the pipe drowned out her singular statement.

        “What are you trying to do?” her partner continued angrily, trying to see through the steam.

        “Fry us to death?”

        He then cut off and began to groan softly, as a vaguely familiar but extremely odd feeling enveloped his body. It felt as if someone had decided to wrap the man in Clingfilm before bundling him into a lift that was now plummeting several storeys. James toppled sideways, overcome by the disorientation and almost suffocating tightness, and as his head hit the floor he felt a great surge of energy from within. That could only mean one thing; he had regained his youth once more. And with childhood came a vast difference in size. James had shrunk so much the ropes were no longer tight about his wrists and had fallen into disarray about him.

        Looking up from his podgy little hand James saw, through the thinning steam, young Jessie was busy occupied in tying her baggy skirt together with one of her earrings to keep it around her waist. He watched with interest as she completed her task and as Jessie removed her hands James couldn’t help giggling at the sight of her efforts. The earring was placed in such a position that it looked like a ridiculous green bobtail on her rear. Jessie swung round upon hearing James’ amused noises and growled menacingly, which made him deathly quiet.

        “Hurry up” she snapped.

        “There’s no time to lose, get those clothes into some sort of order!”

        With that grumpy statement Jessie moved toward the boiler room door and began to yell for help. Leaping to his feet James stepped out of the oversized boots and trousers and used Jessie’s remaining earring to see to his underwear. When he had finished all it looked like he was wearing was his dark grey shirt, which managed to reach his knees.

        “All done!” he announced.

        “That was a real clever idea, using the hot steam to dry us off like that Jess…but the door’s still locked”

        “It's no good," the girl muttered, ignoring James' statement.

        "Plain old shouting isn't audible. We need something louder."

        Suddenly a nasty smirk emerged upon Jessie's face. James frowned in puzzlement at this, but he soon took on a completely new expression as Jessie turned and shoved him sharply to the ground with a loud thud.

       “Whuh-what did you do that for?” the boy exclaimed brokenly as he looked up again. Even though James was furious at such treatment the onset of tears and the fact his lower lip was trembling had made the statement sound purely pathetic.

        “We need a noise loud enough for those twerps to hear.” Jessie replied matter-of-factly.

        “So start with the crying, James”

        “Why don't you start crying?" the boy retorted, leaning forward to lever himself upright while managing to grasp back some of his dignity. It wasn't for long.

        "You'd rather I ended up looking grotesquely puffy-eyed? Shame on you!" Jessie exclaimed, stomping firmly upon her partner's hand. The young figure opened his mouth and screamed so loud that Jessie staggered backwards in shock. As the pressure was released from the appendage James lifted his arm and clasped it shakily to his chest, tears cascading down his face.

        “Th-that was mean!” he managed to splutter between his sobs.

        “You owe me, Jessie.”