Ash, Misty and Brock were walking along the road to their next destination. Pikachu was asleep on Ash’s head, as was Togepi in Misty’s arms. It was late at night and they were all tired, But Ash, as usual, was determined to reach their next destination.

"Can’t we stop, Ash?" asked Misty.

"But if we stop, we’ll never reach the next gym."

"And if we don’t stop, we’ll die of starvation and we STILL won’t reach the next gym."

"Misty’s right, Ash." Brock added tiredly. Ash refused to back down. After walking a few more metres, he was aware of there being no movement behind him so he stopped and turned to look. His two friends had fallen asleep at the side of the road some way back. He rolled his eyes and walked back to join them, realising that he WAS very tired, so he set Pikachu on the floor and lay next to them, falling into a deep sleep.

All was peaceful that night. The cloudless sky revealed the stars overhead as the trio slept soundly with two pokémon. Further down the road, however, all was not so peaceful as the members of Team Rocket were arguing again.

"Why did we have to come out NOW, Jessie?" whined James. "It’s the middle of the night." He hadn’t matured in the slightest. In fact, he was whinier than ever.

"Because we’ve got a better chance of sneaking up on the twerps if we do it now. They’ll be asleep by now and -" She was interrupted by Meowth.

"Sleeeeep. Dat’s what ta do…" He fell forward on his chin and began to snore loudly. Jessie kicked him and James, tired as he was, resisted the urge to follow Meowth’s example.

"Wake up, you stupid cat!" she yelled. "Now, as I was saying, we have an excellent chance of capturing that Pikachu if we steal him by night. Those brats won’t know what hit them!" She rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Come on! We’re losing time!" In unison, and equally unenthusiastically, her team members answered:

"Yes, Jessie."

A few minutes later (although they seemed more like hours to James), Jessie grabbed them and pulled them behind a bush.

"HEY! Watch whatcha doin’ to my fur!" grumbled Meowth. Jessie smacked him and shushed them both, pointing to the road ahead where the five sleeping forms lay.

"Here goes…" she said, and prepared for the easiest double trouble in her career…

***

Ash had a dream… He was asleep under the stars after a long day’s hike (his idea, of course), and he was woken by two familiar, but quiet, voices either side of him. "Prepare for trouble… Make it double…"

"Not again. Not now. I’m too tired." Ash mumbled as he fell back to sleep again. The voices continued to speak, but he barely heard or comprehended their conversation. He was vaguely aware that the small furry form that usually lay by his side was gone, but his brain shut down before he could make anything of it.

***

Meanwhile, Team Rocket returned to their hideout with a still sleeping Pikachu, elated that they’d actually managed to catch him without being shocked. They immediately hurled him into a specially made glass case, which woke him up.

"Pika?"

"Ah, da little rat finally woke up!" said Meowth, pressing a paw against the glass. Pikachu realised the situation and frowned, placing his own paws up against the glass. He thundershocked with all his might. When the smoke cleared, he fell over. James snickered.

"No way out. You belong to us now."

"At least until the Boss has you," added Jessie. The three of them grinned evilly at Pikachu, but he was annoyingly unresponsive. He folded his little arms and addressed Meowth.

"Pi pika. Pikachu." Meowth burst out laughing and Pikachu growled and turned his back to the cat. Jessie and James were curious.

"What did he say, Meowth?" she demanded.

"He says… he tinks… he says… dat dey’ll save him! Dat dose twoips will beat us!" he managed to blurt out, between fits of uncontrollable laughter. The other two Team Rocket members also burst out laughing, then Jessie regained her composure enough to face off the rodent.

"Not this time! Not ever! We win today, and don’t you think otherwise!"

After a triumphant dance hand in hand around his prison, with gleeful chants of "We caught Pikachu! We caught Pikachu!", Jessie and James finally crashed out on the floor, exhausted from their effort (and from the bottle of wine they had consumed earlier in their celebration). Meowth climbed aboard their prostrate forms and curled up in a ball after eyeing Pikachu pointedly, for a long-awaited cat-nap.

Onwards...