Author's Note: This story is my idea for a sequel to another fan fiction
story that I had read online on this site, http://www.fanfiction.net/.
Since this other story wasn't complete at the time I began my own, I have
not completely read it. Therefore, any similarities between scenes is
completely coincidental. Also, I do not own Digimon: Digital Monsters or
Pokemon: Pocket Monsters. They are the property of their separate
companies, Saban and Nintendo respectively, I think. Don't quote me on
that, though.
The Pokemon Master's Return
By: Ninmast
Chapter 1
Invasion from another dimension
"ALRIGHT!!!" Shawn Rae yelled, startling his mother out of her quiet absorption in her evening shows.
"Not so loud," Mrs. Rae moaned, covering her ears. "For crying out loud, Shawn! What in the world has got you so excited that you would cause me to need early hearing aids?"
"I just got my Gyarados up to level 100," he said, crooning over his Game Boy Color. "That's the highest that you can raise a pokemon. Do you have any idea how hard that is?"
"Hon," his mother said, laughing now, "I don't even know what a Gyarados is."
"Well, it's this giant sea dragon-"
Mrs. Rae held up a hand to silence her son. "And I don't want to know, either." Turning back to her programs, she said, "Honestly, I don't understand what you see in that game! You're fifteen! You should be interested in football, or dances, or . . . something!"
"It's a challenge, that's why." But he said this with a grin. This was an argument that they had quite often. His mother always insisted that he was getting too old for such games, and Shawn always said that there was a lot more to them than what it looked like.
People who hated Pokemon, or, even worse, video games in general, looked at Shawn and saw an addict. Fans of Pokemon, on the other hand, saw a walking Pokedex. He knew just about everything there was to know about Pokemon. Given a vague description of one, he could tell you its name, type, attack type, evolutionary forms, even where you could find it. "Besides, you never know when something like this could come in handy," he said now, earning a smile from his mother. Granted, it probably wouldn't get him into a good college, unless it was getting money from bets, or something of that nature. Of course, stranger things have been known to happen.
As if on cue, the program his mother had been watching was suddenly interrupted by the annoying beeping that signaled an important emergency news bulletin. As Shawn and his mother snapped to attention, the beeping stopped and the blank screen was replaced with the face of a pale, shaken news reporter.
"Before I begin," the reporter said, "I must warn you that what follows are frightening scenes, and those of you with children might want to send them out of the room."
"Shawn," Mrs. Rae said, her face tight, "out."
"But Mom! You said yourself that I was fifteen! Let me stay!"
"I said out," she yelled.
Shawn hung his head in defeat. That was the parental voice that no child, no matter how old, could defy. He saved his game, shut off his Game Boy, unplugged his adapter, and turned around to walk out of the room.
While Shawn's back was to the television, the reporter had started showing video footage. Without warning, a mighty roar came from the television speakers that stopped him dead in his tracks. That was a roar I'd recognize anywhere, he thought. But it couldn't be, could it? He turned around to face the television screen, despite his mother's protests. As soon as he saw the picture on the screen, a bullhorn wouldn't have gotten his attention. On the screen was a big, blue, scaly, snake-like creature riding through the rough waves as if they were nothing. Only about a fourth of it was sticking out of the water, but that was an easy quarter of a mile long. It had two big, black, angry eyes, but most of it's head was taken up with its gigantic mouth, permanently stuck open in a ferocious silent roar. Standing on top of this terrifying monster's head was a man in a pitch-black uniform with a red "R" painted on the front. There was no doubt in Shawn's mind. The monster was, without a doubt, a Gyarados, and the man on top of it was one of the many members of the ruthless Team Rocket.
The world is being invaded by Team Rocket. The thought was almost comical in its insanity. Shawn felt sure that he was going to crack. He was sure that this thought was the first crack in the dam of his sanity, and any moment, that dam was going to burst and he was going to roll over laughing hysterically. As he watched, he noticed some sort of portal behind the Gyarados. Out of the portal came what could be nothing else but a Porygon2, followed by an expensive, and very powerful, looking helicopter. Inside the helicopter's cockpit was no doubt a greedy man in an equally expensive light brown Italian suit. The world is being invaded by Team Rocket, and we're probably all going to die. Yeah, that was the funniest thing in the world.
* * *
One year passed. Shawn became an important official in the ranks of Team Rocket, thanks to his wealth of pokemon knowledge. One of the first things Giovanni did after taking over the world was to set up pokemon breeding "ranches" where he could raise pokemon and train people for the physical labor of rebuilding what had become, almost overnight, his world. Of course, in an unfamiliar land, he needed people who knew a great deal about both pokemon and this world's ecology. Shawn, luckily, was one of the few who were qualified as both. Secretly, he held a hatred for Giovanni and his men that was almost inhuman. They had come in, destroyed his world, and swept it aside like old rubbish, making way for The World As It Should Be According To Giovanni. He hid this hatred well, however, and, on the outside, he was the best performing, most loyal member of Team Rocket. Once he had been introduced to real Poke-Battles, he quickly became the strongest, most skilled pokemon trainer in the world, second only to Giovanni, himself. Although he started as nothing more than an important- looking breeder, Shawn quickly earned himself a position as one of Giovanni's most trusted agents. In fact, the only one that Giovanni trusted more than him was Agent 009, Domino, a.k.a. The Black Tulip.
Today, as he had on many other days since becoming an agent, Shawn led a group of Rocket grunts through the towns as a sort of peacekeeping force. Peacekeeping being a nice way of saying, beating up anyone who badmouths Team Rocket.
Drudgery duty again, he thinks to himself with a sigh. Of course, that's all there was to do, since there was no force that could match that of Giovanni's. At the time of the Invasion, the United States military was the most powerful force in the world, and all it took were five Gyarados to wipe them off of the face of the earth. Now, there was no one strong enough to take out the pokemon of a true Team Rocket agent, like himself.
Except for maybe the strongest of the gym leaders.
On his free time, which was pretty often, lately, Shawn had been working on collecting the badges of all eight gym leaders in his region. There was only one gym leader left that he had not beaten. That was the leader of the Ground Pokemon Gym, and that title, just like in the original Pokemon dimension, was held by none other than Giovanni, himself.
As if he would give that up, he thought to himself with a smirk. Then his mind moved on to his plans for the weekend. At first sight, Shawn had fallen head over heels for his world's grass pokemon gym leader, a girl by the name of Kathryn. Kat, as everyone called her, was a sweet girl from Tokyo with a weak spot for Eevees and their evolutions, and was a year younger than Shawn. Although she looked innocent, she had raised a Meganium whose Vine Whip could crush most opponents. In fact, Shawn had figured this out the hard way when she took out his Machoke with one hit. An unexpected victory, but one that deserves all the more respect because of it. Shawn came back and won the Grass Gym Badge with his Flareon. Ironically, he gave that same Flareon to her for her birthday a month later. This weekend, he was taking Kat out to eat, something he could not afford to do if it weren't for his hefty wage as a Team Rocket agent. That girl may have looked petite, but, man, she could eat!
Absorbed in such fantasies, he was unaware of the tomato that was flying at his head. When it hit him, it sent him off-balance, and he pinwheeled his arms in an effort to regain it as he fell hard sideways into the ditch.
"That's for trying to take over our world, Team Bucket," a boy's voice cried.
As he got up, he saw one of the grunts roughly grab hold of the boy, call him a little brat, and raise his fist to hit him. Shawn walked over to the grunt and grabbed hold of his wrist, effortlessly stopping the punch in mid- swing. "Now, now, now," he said, as if scolding a child, "no sense in harming an innocent child, is there?" Then, when the grunt showed no signs of getting his point, he said, sterner, "Let him go!" The grunt obeyed immediately. The child, free from the man's grip, stumbled about a yard, then spun around to face Shawn. As he turned, Shawn saw pokeballs on the boy's belt, a sure sign that he was a trainer. Wiping the tomato off of his face with a handkerchief, Shawn said, "I see you're a trainer, kid. Are you any good?"
"I'm the best in my town," the boy said, his voice shaky with fear.
"Wow! I'm impressed," Shawn said gently, and he was. "Not bad for your age. How old are you? Six? Seven?"
"I'm ten," the boy said vehemently.
"Well, nice to meet you! My name's Shawn," he introduced himself with a smile. "Hey, how would you like to battle against the second best in the world," he then asked, pointing his thumb at himself. "Tell you what, I'll even let you send out all six of your pokemon, and I'll only send out one of mine!"
The kid grinned then, saying, "Fine, but you're going to lose."
They both jumped backward, giving each other room, while everyone around them spread out to get out of the way.
"Raticate, Graveler, Pidgeotto, Magnaton, Vaporeon, Beedrill!" He yelled out each of the names of his pokemon as they each appeared in a flash of blue light from his pokeballs.
"Impressive lineup, kid! Just like at the bowling alley!" He smirked as he threw up his pokeball and yelled, "Nidoking! I choose you!" as the pokemon appeared in front of the kid's pokemon. This was going to be a piece of cake.
"Raticate, Hyper Fang! Graveler, Rollout! Pidgeotto, Drill Peck! Vaporeon, Hydro Pump! Beedrill, Fury Attack!" The kid yelled the orders at his pokemon. Immediately, they followed his instructions.
As the attacks rushed in, all Shawn could say is, "What!? No way!" Then he yelled, "Nidoking, Barrier!" At the last moment, the dinosaur-like pokemon put up his Psychic Barrier, deflecting all of the attacks. When the smoke cleared, Shawn just laughed, saying, "You see, kid? That's why I like Nidoking. He's such a flexible pokemon." Nidoking roared triumphantly in response to this. "Nidoking," he yelled, "plow them over with your Thrash attack!" Nidoking roared again, then charged right into the middle of the whole mess, thrashing about at anything that moved, sending pokemon flying. The only two pokemon left were Pidgeotto, who he couldn't reach, and Vaporeon, who, surprisingly enough, took the full brunt of its part of the attack, and didn't get scratched.
"Ha, ha!" The kid danced around, laughing. "The big, bad Rocket can't reach my Pidgeotto, and can't scratch my Vaporeon!" The two pokemon chirped and howled happily at this praise. "Let's see how much your Nidoking can take now that its so confused! Pidgeotto, use your Gust attack!"
Pidgeotto flapped its powerful wings faster and faster, creating a miniature tornado that slammed into Shawn's Nidoking, who had been teetering around dangerously after his Thrash attack had made him dizzy. The attack didn't knock the heavy pokemon back, but it did cause it to straighten out.
"Whoops," Shawn said with a smile, pushing his hand through his brown hair. "Looks like you just straightened my Nidoking out! Too bad, and that was your only chance, too! Nidoking, use your Thunderbolt on that bird!" Nidoking grunts in response as a yellow aura surrounds the pokemon. Suddenly, Nidoking roars as the electricity soars out like a missile and hits the Pidgeotto.
"Ohhhhhhhh," it cawed, as the attack surrounds it, jolting electricity throughout its body. As the attack fades and it falls to the ground, it utters an exhausted, "To."
As he had with the rest of his pokemon as they faint, the boy pointed his pokeball at the wasted bird, saying, "Pidgeotto, return!" The bird was sucked back up into the ball in another flash of blue light. "Vaporeon," the kid addressed his last pokemon, "I'm going to have to depend on you to take this guy out. Can you do it?" Vaporeon howled in affirmation. "Good! Now that his barrier's down, you can use your Hydro Pump on him again." Vaporeon did so gladly.
As the powerful blast of water bore down on his Nidoking, Shawn just smirked and said, "Let's show this kid who he's dealing with. Just block it with your hand, Nidoking." The bulky pokemon stuck out its right hand and stopped the blast cold, causing the water to go spraying everywhere in a heavy rain. "Now, Nidoking, finish it off with your Horn Drill!" Nidoking roared as the horn on top of his head began to glow.
"Brace yourself, Vaporeon! This is going to hurt!" The kid covered his eyes in fear. So did the pokemon, for that matter.
"You got that right, kid! Nidoking, do it!" Suddenly, a large energy drill shot out of the pokemon's horn and flew through the air, spinning right through the Vaporeon.
Although no hole could be seen, the pokemon was obviously trashed as it flew backward into the kid, who sulked as he told his beloved Vaporeon that it did the best that it could and to rest awhile as he returned it to his pokeball.
"One-hit KO. Nidoking, return," Shawn said, feeling as upset as he seemed callous. "Come on," he said to the grunts. "We've got work to do."
As he walked away and around a corner, he spotted a teenage girl with short, blonde ringlets falling out from under a white hat. She was dressed in a tight, black shirt and an equally tight, white, and extremely short miniskirt that showed off all of her curves and did more than flaunt her incredibly long legs. She was also the last person that Shawn wanted to see right then. Of course, there was no way of sneaking away from her, not with a dozen grunts gawking behind him and her walking toward him from the post that she had been leaning against. As she came up to him, all he could do was hold back his bile and say in his most flattering voice, "Hey, Domino! What brings you here?"
"That was quite a battle, back there," she said, almost conversationally, which unnerved Shawn, because Domino never said anything conversationally.
"It was just a kid," he responded, feeling, for some reason that he should defend himself from those big, bright, blue, and deceptively innocent eyes. "There's no honor in a battle like that."
His mention of honor caused her to mentally stagger as her eyes lost focus for a moment. Obviously, this was the last thing she had expected to hear from him, and it had thrown her for a loop. Shawn was relieved when her stare faltered. Usually, he wasn't so shy of girls, but this one was just downright unnerving!
He must have smiled from his relief, because she saw it and suddenly brightened up, saying, "Oh! You're joking! You had me worried, there, for a bit, Shawn." Shawn was too glad to have narrowly escaped such serious trouble to correct her. "Anyway," she continued sweetly (she seemed to do everything sweetly; it was one of her few good traits, if you could call it that). "I just got a Kangaskhan, and I thought you might want to take your Nidoking up against it."
"Are you challenging me to a Poke-Battle," he asked, a real smile spreading across his face for a change as he nurtured an insult in the back of his mind. So help me, he thought, I may have a soft heart, but I've got a cruel streak in me a mile wide. I just can't help picking on this girl.
"I guess I am," she said, standing extremely close to him and walking her fingers up his chest. "Why," she asked sweetly, "do you doubt me?"
"No," he answered, ready to fire his insult now that she had walked right into his trap, "it's just that Kangaskhan is a Maternal pokemon, and, well, let's just say that you don't cross me as the Maternal type."
She staggered back as if he had slapped her, and then she did slap him. She slapped him strongly across his face. He squinted for a moment until the stinging went away. The girl was as strong as she was good looking. "You jerk," she yelled at the top of her lungs while Shawn smiled inwardly, proud of the job he did. "You insensitive little jerk!" But then she inadvertently put a crater in his balloon by calming down, walking back up to him, tangling her fingers in his hair, and whispering in his ear. "But that's okay, because you were trying to make me laugh, and, even though your sense of humor is as dry as the Sahara, you try, and that's what I love about you. You try for me."
She sucked on his ear and kissed him while he thought, Geesh! What a tramp! She acts like we've been together forever! Talk about a slut!
Just as she was about to turn his head so that she could plant one on his kisser, her phone rang. Even though he knew that it was Giovanni, himself, on the other end of the line (Who else could it be? That phone had only one line, a direct one straight to headquarters, and Giovanni was the only one who had access to the number.), he was relieved that something had managed to stop Domino before she could go any further. She had always had a crush on him, apparently, and usually, he was able to hide, or get out of her path entirely. Of course, he had never told her about Kat. He didn't like Domino. In fact, he hated her guts. But that didn't matter. All that did matter was that Domino wanted Shawn, and nothing and nobody was going to get in her way. If she knew about his feelings for Kat, she would hunt her down and kill her. Shawn would insult Domino and poke jabs at her, usually right in front of her face, like he did just now. However, Domino had this idea in her mind that Shawn loved her as unconditionally as she loved him, and an anvil dropping out of the sky onto her head wasn't going to change her mind.
Now, she reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. How she could fit her hand, much less a phone, into a pocket on an outfit that tight is beyond me, Shawn thought with disgust. However, the phone, and the hand, came right back out, smooth and easy, as if her pocket was as loose as she was. Shawn forced himself not to snicker as he stored that delicious morsel away as a good jab that would have to wait until later.
Domino opened her phone, and immediately her shell had surrounded her once again. "009 reporting, sir." She was soft no more. She was brisk and businesslike, the good soldier. There would be no getting to her now. Any attempt to do so would be met with a cold stare and a threat to your life if she thought you were worth that much. Now, Shawn thought, as he often had before, that perhaps it was possible that this shell of hers was more of a defense mechanism than mere good behavior. A quote came to mind. He had no idea where it was from, but it was fitting. So much like a turtle are they: A hardened shell with fragile flesh beneath. Yes, it was fitting. He wondered about Domino's history. It was a secret to everyone but herself. Even her real name was a secret. Domino was just a nickname.
The girl of many mysteries, he thought, grinning inwardly as he thought about his own many secrets. We really are quite a pair.
As she was speaking to Giovanni, she caught Shawn staring at her, misinterpreted it as him admiring her, and gave him a look that clearly said, Thanks, but it will have to wait. He groaned, but from frustration with the woman, rather than being upset about the refusal, as his grunts obviously believe was the reason. Three seconds ago, I couldn't get her off of me. If this girl doesn't have a split personality disorder, I don't know who does. He had no idea just how wrong he was.
As she hangs up, she says, "First thing's first, all of you pathetic grunts are to come with me back to headquarters. Come on! Let's move it!"
As they walk by Shawn, several try to comfort him, saying things like, "Too bad, man," or, "And you were so close, too!" He just nods at them as they go by. Let them think what they want to think. If he has to play the role of the shunned lover, then so be it. Heaven knows he's played enough roles over the course of the last year that it really doesn't matter anymore.
"Second," Domino continues, somehow managing to sound as sweet as honey and as dangerous as a knife at the same time, "Shawn, your orders are to wait here. The boss's helicopter will be here shortly to pick you up. He wants to speak to you in person." Turning back to the grunts, she said, "What are you clowns looking at? You need me to walk you back to headquarters?" The grunts start running, afraid of Domino's legendary wrath. Turning back to Shawn, she is soft for the last time that day. "Come back to me safely," she told him, caressing his face with her hand. "Try not to lose your head, okay? I like it right where it is." She pulled his face up to hers, and gave him a long, soft kiss. Under any other circumstances, Shawn would probably have pushed her off of him. At the moment, however, he was too afraid of why Giovanni wanted to see him in person, and the kiss was gentle and comforting. Under these circumstances, he wouldn't have been able to break this kiss for the world.
* * *
In the next chapter of The Pokemon Master's Return:
After a discussion of loyalties with Giovanni, Shawn joins the chase as Team Rocket struggles to hunt down a missing Porygon2 who holds the secret to interdimensional travel. When he stumbles across the method of the pokemon's escape, he is sucked into the original Pokemon dimension. Apparently stranded without the Porygon2, Shawn begins to search for another way home. But what is it with that strange boy and girl who seem to be following him? Is it just his imagination? Or could these two mean trouble? Find out next time in Chapter 2 - Reality Check!
So, what do you think? This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction. Any criticism you have, good or bad, is appreciated, and I will take it into consideration as I write the next chapter. If the next chapter goes as fast as this one, it should be done in a few days, so if you want a say in it, you'd better start sending in those reviews!
The Pokemon Master's Return
By: Ninmast
Chapter 1
Invasion from another dimension
"ALRIGHT!!!" Shawn Rae yelled, startling his mother out of her quiet absorption in her evening shows.
"Not so loud," Mrs. Rae moaned, covering her ears. "For crying out loud, Shawn! What in the world has got you so excited that you would cause me to need early hearing aids?"
"I just got my Gyarados up to level 100," he said, crooning over his Game Boy Color. "That's the highest that you can raise a pokemon. Do you have any idea how hard that is?"
"Hon," his mother said, laughing now, "I don't even know what a Gyarados is."
"Well, it's this giant sea dragon-"
Mrs. Rae held up a hand to silence her son. "And I don't want to know, either." Turning back to her programs, she said, "Honestly, I don't understand what you see in that game! You're fifteen! You should be interested in football, or dances, or . . . something!"
"It's a challenge, that's why." But he said this with a grin. This was an argument that they had quite often. His mother always insisted that he was getting too old for such games, and Shawn always said that there was a lot more to them than what it looked like.
People who hated Pokemon, or, even worse, video games in general, looked at Shawn and saw an addict. Fans of Pokemon, on the other hand, saw a walking Pokedex. He knew just about everything there was to know about Pokemon. Given a vague description of one, he could tell you its name, type, attack type, evolutionary forms, even where you could find it. "Besides, you never know when something like this could come in handy," he said now, earning a smile from his mother. Granted, it probably wouldn't get him into a good college, unless it was getting money from bets, or something of that nature. Of course, stranger things have been known to happen.
As if on cue, the program his mother had been watching was suddenly interrupted by the annoying beeping that signaled an important emergency news bulletin. As Shawn and his mother snapped to attention, the beeping stopped and the blank screen was replaced with the face of a pale, shaken news reporter.
"Before I begin," the reporter said, "I must warn you that what follows are frightening scenes, and those of you with children might want to send them out of the room."
"Shawn," Mrs. Rae said, her face tight, "out."
"But Mom! You said yourself that I was fifteen! Let me stay!"
"I said out," she yelled.
Shawn hung his head in defeat. That was the parental voice that no child, no matter how old, could defy. He saved his game, shut off his Game Boy, unplugged his adapter, and turned around to walk out of the room.
While Shawn's back was to the television, the reporter had started showing video footage. Without warning, a mighty roar came from the television speakers that stopped him dead in his tracks. That was a roar I'd recognize anywhere, he thought. But it couldn't be, could it? He turned around to face the television screen, despite his mother's protests. As soon as he saw the picture on the screen, a bullhorn wouldn't have gotten his attention. On the screen was a big, blue, scaly, snake-like creature riding through the rough waves as if they were nothing. Only about a fourth of it was sticking out of the water, but that was an easy quarter of a mile long. It had two big, black, angry eyes, but most of it's head was taken up with its gigantic mouth, permanently stuck open in a ferocious silent roar. Standing on top of this terrifying monster's head was a man in a pitch-black uniform with a red "R" painted on the front. There was no doubt in Shawn's mind. The monster was, without a doubt, a Gyarados, and the man on top of it was one of the many members of the ruthless Team Rocket.
The world is being invaded by Team Rocket. The thought was almost comical in its insanity. Shawn felt sure that he was going to crack. He was sure that this thought was the first crack in the dam of his sanity, and any moment, that dam was going to burst and he was going to roll over laughing hysterically. As he watched, he noticed some sort of portal behind the Gyarados. Out of the portal came what could be nothing else but a Porygon2, followed by an expensive, and very powerful, looking helicopter. Inside the helicopter's cockpit was no doubt a greedy man in an equally expensive light brown Italian suit. The world is being invaded by Team Rocket, and we're probably all going to die. Yeah, that was the funniest thing in the world.
* * *
One year passed. Shawn became an important official in the ranks of Team Rocket, thanks to his wealth of pokemon knowledge. One of the first things Giovanni did after taking over the world was to set up pokemon breeding "ranches" where he could raise pokemon and train people for the physical labor of rebuilding what had become, almost overnight, his world. Of course, in an unfamiliar land, he needed people who knew a great deal about both pokemon and this world's ecology. Shawn, luckily, was one of the few who were qualified as both. Secretly, he held a hatred for Giovanni and his men that was almost inhuman. They had come in, destroyed his world, and swept it aside like old rubbish, making way for The World As It Should Be According To Giovanni. He hid this hatred well, however, and, on the outside, he was the best performing, most loyal member of Team Rocket. Once he had been introduced to real Poke-Battles, he quickly became the strongest, most skilled pokemon trainer in the world, second only to Giovanni, himself. Although he started as nothing more than an important- looking breeder, Shawn quickly earned himself a position as one of Giovanni's most trusted agents. In fact, the only one that Giovanni trusted more than him was Agent 009, Domino, a.k.a. The Black Tulip.
Today, as he had on many other days since becoming an agent, Shawn led a group of Rocket grunts through the towns as a sort of peacekeeping force. Peacekeeping being a nice way of saying, beating up anyone who badmouths Team Rocket.
Drudgery duty again, he thinks to himself with a sigh. Of course, that's all there was to do, since there was no force that could match that of Giovanni's. At the time of the Invasion, the United States military was the most powerful force in the world, and all it took were five Gyarados to wipe them off of the face of the earth. Now, there was no one strong enough to take out the pokemon of a true Team Rocket agent, like himself.
Except for maybe the strongest of the gym leaders.
On his free time, which was pretty often, lately, Shawn had been working on collecting the badges of all eight gym leaders in his region. There was only one gym leader left that he had not beaten. That was the leader of the Ground Pokemon Gym, and that title, just like in the original Pokemon dimension, was held by none other than Giovanni, himself.
As if he would give that up, he thought to himself with a smirk. Then his mind moved on to his plans for the weekend. At first sight, Shawn had fallen head over heels for his world's grass pokemon gym leader, a girl by the name of Kathryn. Kat, as everyone called her, was a sweet girl from Tokyo with a weak spot for Eevees and their evolutions, and was a year younger than Shawn. Although she looked innocent, she had raised a Meganium whose Vine Whip could crush most opponents. In fact, Shawn had figured this out the hard way when she took out his Machoke with one hit. An unexpected victory, but one that deserves all the more respect because of it. Shawn came back and won the Grass Gym Badge with his Flareon. Ironically, he gave that same Flareon to her for her birthday a month later. This weekend, he was taking Kat out to eat, something he could not afford to do if it weren't for his hefty wage as a Team Rocket agent. That girl may have looked petite, but, man, she could eat!
Absorbed in such fantasies, he was unaware of the tomato that was flying at his head. When it hit him, it sent him off-balance, and he pinwheeled his arms in an effort to regain it as he fell hard sideways into the ditch.
"That's for trying to take over our world, Team Bucket," a boy's voice cried.
As he got up, he saw one of the grunts roughly grab hold of the boy, call him a little brat, and raise his fist to hit him. Shawn walked over to the grunt and grabbed hold of his wrist, effortlessly stopping the punch in mid- swing. "Now, now, now," he said, as if scolding a child, "no sense in harming an innocent child, is there?" Then, when the grunt showed no signs of getting his point, he said, sterner, "Let him go!" The grunt obeyed immediately. The child, free from the man's grip, stumbled about a yard, then spun around to face Shawn. As he turned, Shawn saw pokeballs on the boy's belt, a sure sign that he was a trainer. Wiping the tomato off of his face with a handkerchief, Shawn said, "I see you're a trainer, kid. Are you any good?"
"I'm the best in my town," the boy said, his voice shaky with fear.
"Wow! I'm impressed," Shawn said gently, and he was. "Not bad for your age. How old are you? Six? Seven?"
"I'm ten," the boy said vehemently.
"Well, nice to meet you! My name's Shawn," he introduced himself with a smile. "Hey, how would you like to battle against the second best in the world," he then asked, pointing his thumb at himself. "Tell you what, I'll even let you send out all six of your pokemon, and I'll only send out one of mine!"
The kid grinned then, saying, "Fine, but you're going to lose."
They both jumped backward, giving each other room, while everyone around them spread out to get out of the way.
"Raticate, Graveler, Pidgeotto, Magnaton, Vaporeon, Beedrill!" He yelled out each of the names of his pokemon as they each appeared in a flash of blue light from his pokeballs.
"Impressive lineup, kid! Just like at the bowling alley!" He smirked as he threw up his pokeball and yelled, "Nidoking! I choose you!" as the pokemon appeared in front of the kid's pokemon. This was going to be a piece of cake.
"Raticate, Hyper Fang! Graveler, Rollout! Pidgeotto, Drill Peck! Vaporeon, Hydro Pump! Beedrill, Fury Attack!" The kid yelled the orders at his pokemon. Immediately, they followed his instructions.
As the attacks rushed in, all Shawn could say is, "What!? No way!" Then he yelled, "Nidoking, Barrier!" At the last moment, the dinosaur-like pokemon put up his Psychic Barrier, deflecting all of the attacks. When the smoke cleared, Shawn just laughed, saying, "You see, kid? That's why I like Nidoking. He's such a flexible pokemon." Nidoking roared triumphantly in response to this. "Nidoking," he yelled, "plow them over with your Thrash attack!" Nidoking roared again, then charged right into the middle of the whole mess, thrashing about at anything that moved, sending pokemon flying. The only two pokemon left were Pidgeotto, who he couldn't reach, and Vaporeon, who, surprisingly enough, took the full brunt of its part of the attack, and didn't get scratched.
"Ha, ha!" The kid danced around, laughing. "The big, bad Rocket can't reach my Pidgeotto, and can't scratch my Vaporeon!" The two pokemon chirped and howled happily at this praise. "Let's see how much your Nidoking can take now that its so confused! Pidgeotto, use your Gust attack!"
Pidgeotto flapped its powerful wings faster and faster, creating a miniature tornado that slammed into Shawn's Nidoking, who had been teetering around dangerously after his Thrash attack had made him dizzy. The attack didn't knock the heavy pokemon back, but it did cause it to straighten out.
"Whoops," Shawn said with a smile, pushing his hand through his brown hair. "Looks like you just straightened my Nidoking out! Too bad, and that was your only chance, too! Nidoking, use your Thunderbolt on that bird!" Nidoking grunts in response as a yellow aura surrounds the pokemon. Suddenly, Nidoking roars as the electricity soars out like a missile and hits the Pidgeotto.
"Ohhhhhhhh," it cawed, as the attack surrounds it, jolting electricity throughout its body. As the attack fades and it falls to the ground, it utters an exhausted, "To."
As he had with the rest of his pokemon as they faint, the boy pointed his pokeball at the wasted bird, saying, "Pidgeotto, return!" The bird was sucked back up into the ball in another flash of blue light. "Vaporeon," the kid addressed his last pokemon, "I'm going to have to depend on you to take this guy out. Can you do it?" Vaporeon howled in affirmation. "Good! Now that his barrier's down, you can use your Hydro Pump on him again." Vaporeon did so gladly.
As the powerful blast of water bore down on his Nidoking, Shawn just smirked and said, "Let's show this kid who he's dealing with. Just block it with your hand, Nidoking." The bulky pokemon stuck out its right hand and stopped the blast cold, causing the water to go spraying everywhere in a heavy rain. "Now, Nidoking, finish it off with your Horn Drill!" Nidoking roared as the horn on top of his head began to glow.
"Brace yourself, Vaporeon! This is going to hurt!" The kid covered his eyes in fear. So did the pokemon, for that matter.
"You got that right, kid! Nidoking, do it!" Suddenly, a large energy drill shot out of the pokemon's horn and flew through the air, spinning right through the Vaporeon.
Although no hole could be seen, the pokemon was obviously trashed as it flew backward into the kid, who sulked as he told his beloved Vaporeon that it did the best that it could and to rest awhile as he returned it to his pokeball.
"One-hit KO. Nidoking, return," Shawn said, feeling as upset as he seemed callous. "Come on," he said to the grunts. "We've got work to do."
As he walked away and around a corner, he spotted a teenage girl with short, blonde ringlets falling out from under a white hat. She was dressed in a tight, black shirt and an equally tight, white, and extremely short miniskirt that showed off all of her curves and did more than flaunt her incredibly long legs. She was also the last person that Shawn wanted to see right then. Of course, there was no way of sneaking away from her, not with a dozen grunts gawking behind him and her walking toward him from the post that she had been leaning against. As she came up to him, all he could do was hold back his bile and say in his most flattering voice, "Hey, Domino! What brings you here?"
"That was quite a battle, back there," she said, almost conversationally, which unnerved Shawn, because Domino never said anything conversationally.
"It was just a kid," he responded, feeling, for some reason that he should defend himself from those big, bright, blue, and deceptively innocent eyes. "There's no honor in a battle like that."
His mention of honor caused her to mentally stagger as her eyes lost focus for a moment. Obviously, this was the last thing she had expected to hear from him, and it had thrown her for a loop. Shawn was relieved when her stare faltered. Usually, he wasn't so shy of girls, but this one was just downright unnerving!
He must have smiled from his relief, because she saw it and suddenly brightened up, saying, "Oh! You're joking! You had me worried, there, for a bit, Shawn." Shawn was too glad to have narrowly escaped such serious trouble to correct her. "Anyway," she continued sweetly (she seemed to do everything sweetly; it was one of her few good traits, if you could call it that). "I just got a Kangaskhan, and I thought you might want to take your Nidoking up against it."
"Are you challenging me to a Poke-Battle," he asked, a real smile spreading across his face for a change as he nurtured an insult in the back of his mind. So help me, he thought, I may have a soft heart, but I've got a cruel streak in me a mile wide. I just can't help picking on this girl.
"I guess I am," she said, standing extremely close to him and walking her fingers up his chest. "Why," she asked sweetly, "do you doubt me?"
"No," he answered, ready to fire his insult now that she had walked right into his trap, "it's just that Kangaskhan is a Maternal pokemon, and, well, let's just say that you don't cross me as the Maternal type."
She staggered back as if he had slapped her, and then she did slap him. She slapped him strongly across his face. He squinted for a moment until the stinging went away. The girl was as strong as she was good looking. "You jerk," she yelled at the top of her lungs while Shawn smiled inwardly, proud of the job he did. "You insensitive little jerk!" But then she inadvertently put a crater in his balloon by calming down, walking back up to him, tangling her fingers in his hair, and whispering in his ear. "But that's okay, because you were trying to make me laugh, and, even though your sense of humor is as dry as the Sahara, you try, and that's what I love about you. You try for me."
She sucked on his ear and kissed him while he thought, Geesh! What a tramp! She acts like we've been together forever! Talk about a slut!
Just as she was about to turn his head so that she could plant one on his kisser, her phone rang. Even though he knew that it was Giovanni, himself, on the other end of the line (Who else could it be? That phone had only one line, a direct one straight to headquarters, and Giovanni was the only one who had access to the number.), he was relieved that something had managed to stop Domino before she could go any further. She had always had a crush on him, apparently, and usually, he was able to hide, or get out of her path entirely. Of course, he had never told her about Kat. He didn't like Domino. In fact, he hated her guts. But that didn't matter. All that did matter was that Domino wanted Shawn, and nothing and nobody was going to get in her way. If she knew about his feelings for Kat, she would hunt her down and kill her. Shawn would insult Domino and poke jabs at her, usually right in front of her face, like he did just now. However, Domino had this idea in her mind that Shawn loved her as unconditionally as she loved him, and an anvil dropping out of the sky onto her head wasn't going to change her mind.
Now, she reached into her pocket to pull out her phone. How she could fit her hand, much less a phone, into a pocket on an outfit that tight is beyond me, Shawn thought with disgust. However, the phone, and the hand, came right back out, smooth and easy, as if her pocket was as loose as she was. Shawn forced himself not to snicker as he stored that delicious morsel away as a good jab that would have to wait until later.
Domino opened her phone, and immediately her shell had surrounded her once again. "009 reporting, sir." She was soft no more. She was brisk and businesslike, the good soldier. There would be no getting to her now. Any attempt to do so would be met with a cold stare and a threat to your life if she thought you were worth that much. Now, Shawn thought, as he often had before, that perhaps it was possible that this shell of hers was more of a defense mechanism than mere good behavior. A quote came to mind. He had no idea where it was from, but it was fitting. So much like a turtle are they: A hardened shell with fragile flesh beneath. Yes, it was fitting. He wondered about Domino's history. It was a secret to everyone but herself. Even her real name was a secret. Domino was just a nickname.
The girl of many mysteries, he thought, grinning inwardly as he thought about his own many secrets. We really are quite a pair.
As she was speaking to Giovanni, she caught Shawn staring at her, misinterpreted it as him admiring her, and gave him a look that clearly said, Thanks, but it will have to wait. He groaned, but from frustration with the woman, rather than being upset about the refusal, as his grunts obviously believe was the reason. Three seconds ago, I couldn't get her off of me. If this girl doesn't have a split personality disorder, I don't know who does. He had no idea just how wrong he was.
As she hangs up, she says, "First thing's first, all of you pathetic grunts are to come with me back to headquarters. Come on! Let's move it!"
As they walk by Shawn, several try to comfort him, saying things like, "Too bad, man," or, "And you were so close, too!" He just nods at them as they go by. Let them think what they want to think. If he has to play the role of the shunned lover, then so be it. Heaven knows he's played enough roles over the course of the last year that it really doesn't matter anymore.
"Second," Domino continues, somehow managing to sound as sweet as honey and as dangerous as a knife at the same time, "Shawn, your orders are to wait here. The boss's helicopter will be here shortly to pick you up. He wants to speak to you in person." Turning back to the grunts, she said, "What are you clowns looking at? You need me to walk you back to headquarters?" The grunts start running, afraid of Domino's legendary wrath. Turning back to Shawn, she is soft for the last time that day. "Come back to me safely," she told him, caressing his face with her hand. "Try not to lose your head, okay? I like it right where it is." She pulled his face up to hers, and gave him a long, soft kiss. Under any other circumstances, Shawn would probably have pushed her off of him. At the moment, however, he was too afraid of why Giovanni wanted to see him in person, and the kiss was gentle and comforting. Under these circumstances, he wouldn't have been able to break this kiss for the world.
* * *
In the next chapter of The Pokemon Master's Return:
After a discussion of loyalties with Giovanni, Shawn joins the chase as Team Rocket struggles to hunt down a missing Porygon2 who holds the secret to interdimensional travel. When he stumbles across the method of the pokemon's escape, he is sucked into the original Pokemon dimension. Apparently stranded without the Porygon2, Shawn begins to search for another way home. But what is it with that strange boy and girl who seem to be following him? Is it just his imagination? Or could these two mean trouble? Find out next time in Chapter 2 - Reality Check!
So, what do you think? This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction. Any criticism you have, good or bad, is appreciated, and I will take it into consideration as I write the next chapter. If the next chapter goes as fast as this one, it should be done in a few days, so if you want a say in it, you'd better start sending in those reviews!