A/N: I kind of hate the beach irl but beach episodes are fun. This is basically just a gift to Professor Audial because we fuel each other's Team Rocket-related headcanons. Both serious and cracky ones. Also it is Audial's headcanon that Wendy and Butch are siblings so that's brought up here. Also I spent too long describing how everyone looks I'm only slightly sorry.
Domino was absolutely miserable. While Giovanni had brought some of his most talented grunts to Hano Grand Resort for some business, Domino couldn't much stand the heat. Ironically Domino grew up in one of the warmer parts of Kanto but that didn't mean she enjoyed being directly under the summer sun. She can get as sweaty as a Snorlax doing a single pushup and will always find sand in undesirable places. Team Rockets' official business in this region wouldn't start until tomorrow so everyone on this business trip was free to relax today. While Domino had no clue where Giovanni and Matori were, she could see Butch and Cassidy relaxing on some lounge chairs. Cassidy had come out in a black swimsuit with so many crossing straps it looked more like something you'd wear in the bedroom, not on a public beach. Butch on the other hand was wearing black swim trunks. They weren't as flashy as Cassidy's swimsuit but they did look like quite the matching pair. While Butch and Cassidy weren't an embarrassment like a certain trio, she wasn't fond of the pair either. They both had Giovanni's favor, sure, but they acted above their station and Domino didn't appreciate lower level agents not knowing their place. Dr. Namba was also on the beach. He actually hadn't bought a swimsuit beforehand, she saw him returning from the Thrifty Megamart this morning. It seems he bought an Alolan flower button-up shirt that he wore unbuttoned and Alolan Exeggutor swim trunks. The man was bugging some poor couple about his newest gizmo or whatever he was excited to show the boss.
But where was Domino? Well, she wasn't on the dreaded sand, that's for sure! She instead opted to relax on her Lapras's icy cool shell while leaning over towards the water, running her hand through the steady current. In Domino's reflection, she saw herself as a bit different from usual. She somehow got her Hime-style curls into a bun underneath a white sun hat with pink accents. She needed to get it on her neck to avoid heavy sweating. Her two-piece swimsuit was a dusty pink color with black accents, the top almost looked like a corset. She looked good in her opinion, and Domino might have continued her vein staring forever if she didn't feel something hit her head. Hard.
"Ow, what the hell?" Domino shot up and stared towards the shore. There she saw Wendy, in a low cut green one-piece, throwing little Pokemon she had never seen before with all her might into the ocean. While Wendy definitely looked pumped up from the action it didn't look like the woman had hit Domino on purpose. Still, Domino asked Lapras to take her back to shore so she could talk to Wendy.
When Domino arrived she saw Wendy talking to a bellhop near the lifeguard tower. He handed her something before she stepped away and noticed the teen.
"Hey Domino, can I get a turn riding on Lapras?"
"What the hell did you throw at me?" Domino asked while pointing to the red mark on her head.
"Oh, you mean Pyukumuku?"
"Yes, why the hell are you throwing Pokemon into the ocean?" Domino asked.
"That bellhop said that a lot of the Pyukumu wash up on shore a lot, they'll dry out or be stepped on by tourists, so he offered to give me some cash to throw them back out to sea for him." Wendy explained.
"What do you need pocket change for Wendy? Did the boss not put enough money on your company card?"
"I don't use my company card for everything like you guys do. Do you know how much everyone spends each year? Some grunts even go into debt. I make sure my account has more money than the boss puts in! I AM NOT GOING INTO DEBT INTO SOMETHING AS STUPID AS A FRUIT SMOOTHIE-"
"Alright alright take a chill pill ma'am," Domino said pushing the extremely worked-up Wendy out of her personal space. "Well now that you have the money, you owe me a cold drink," Domino said, heading back towards the resort.
"Oh no I don't-"
"Can you get me a Lemonade?" Cassidy asked, not even looking back at Wendy.
"Huh?"
"Can you grab me a soda pop sis?" Butch asked.
"You too Butch!?" Wendy shot her brother an annoyed look.
"We'll treat you to something later~" Domino cooed as she began to push Wendy towards a drink cart.
"Not on the company care you won't!"
Despite Wendy's protests, she bought everyone drinks. Cassidy got her lemonade, Butch and Domino both got Soda Pop's and Wendy got a berry juice. Spiked with rum of course.
Later that day Butch and Cassidy took up a game of beach volleyball, Domino was burying the currently sleeping Dr. Namba into the sand, and Wendy was relaxing on top of the friendly Lapras, reading a new book she had gotten.
Everything seemed peaceful until Domino heard Wendy curse in the distance. She looked over in her direction to see her and Lapras coming back to shore.
"Did something happen? Are you and Lapras okay?" Domino asked once they came back.
"I dropped my coin purse! I had it on Lapras shell. I wasn't looking and now it's gone!" Wendy explained.
"So? It's just a coin purse," Domino said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"I put the money I got for chucking Pyukumu's in there! I will not let 20 thousand pokedollars* be lost to the sea!"
"That much!?" Domino exclaimed.
"We gotta go underwater looking for it, the gift shop has snorkeling gear…" Wendy began to plan but Domino stopped her.
"How will we get far enough underwater? You don't have any water types and Lapras gets scared if her head falls below the water," Domino reminded her.
"You're right…" Wendy admitted as she began to look around the beach. At first Domino might loot some tourist. Instead, Wendy gleefully walked over to Butch, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.
"Oh big brother!~"
"Arceus I know that tone of voice. What do you want Wendy?"
"Can I pretty please borrow your Cloyster? I wanna go diving," Wendy said holding her hands up to her face. She gave Butch her best baby doll eyes but it had no effect.
"Aren't there rentals in Alola for that sort of thing?"
"I dropped my money into the ocean!" Wendy finally exclaimed.
"Jeez you should have just been honest with me," Butch walked over to his beach bag and pulled out a pokéball. He threw it over to Wendy.
"Be careful," He said, returning to his game of volleyball.
The girls picked up some scuba masks from the resort and once they were back on the beach they let Cloyster out of his Pokeball. The pokemon had two long spikes that were the perfect length for Wendy and Domino to hold onto as the pokemon descended into the sea. They looked around the clear water for the sight of the coin purse that, according to Wendy, looked like an Espeon. They looked around, it seemed at some point Cloyster was communicating with the wild pokemon about their situation but they had no luck finding the coin purse. And of course, two feisty girls holding onto one pokemon was bound to cause problems. Domino and Wendy couldn't pick a direction to search in, causing them both to try and push Cloyster in what they thought was the RIGHT direction. Cloyster eventually got annoyed and created a whirlpool, pulling the girls in and spitting them back to shore.
The two wet women lay on the sand, their heads still spinning when Cloyster swam back to shore.
"Cloyster return," Butch commanded taking his Pokeball back and returning the smirking pokemon to its ball. "I told you two to be careful,"
"Put a sock in it Pancho-"
"It's Butch!" Butch and Wendy cut Domino off with a screech.
"Alright Alright!" Domino said as she stood up, wiping sand off herself. "Come on Wendy, let's go see if your coin purse has washed up on shore."
The two girls began to search the shore. Domino watched Wendy run around the sand with bare feet and dry skin. How were her feet not in pain from the hot sand? How was she not breaking a sweat? Meanwhile Domino felt like her feet might burn, even in sandals, and she was melting like a snow-eevee left out in the sun. While Wendy wasn't uncomfortable from the heat she was getting tired of searching. However, something in the distance caught her attention. It was her Espeon coin purse! It was stuck inside a small sand pile with a little shovel sticking out of the top. Wendy began to book it
towards the sand pile, startling Domino who began to follow.
"Is it over there in the sand?" Domino thought. "That shovel looks… familiar somehow…"
"What the? My purse is stuck? GIVE IT BACK!" Domino could see Wendy trying to pull her coin purse out of the sand. Suddenly Domino realized why she had seen a shovel like that before.
"Wendy be careful!" But her warning had come too late. Wendy had reached for the shovel to dig out her wallet and was possessed by the pokemon Sandyghast.** Domino had seen one in her textbook before, it was part ground part ghost type. Wild ghost types have a habit of tricking people like this and now Wendy's mind has become this Pokemon's play thing.
"Lapras come out!" Domino threw her Pokeball into the air and let Lapras out onto the sand. "I need you to battle, can you do that Lapras?" Lapras looked a bit concerned at her friend Wendy, now a purple aura overtook her as she held the little shovel in her hand. Domino was a bit worried what damage Wendy could do with all her strength no longer being held back.
"Don't get too close and use Water Pulse!" Domino ordered Lapras.
"LAAAA!" Lapras cried while a pulse of water shot in the Sandyghast's direction. Domino was hoping to confuse it but that didn't work. Sandyghast used Astonish, catching Lapras off guard.
"Get away again and use Icy Wind!" Domino ordered. Lapras jumped back and blew out a cold wind towards the pokemon. You could see little snowflakes on the sand covering the Pokemon but it barely flinched. Domino couldn't use a more powerful move like Surf since Sandyghast could just go into the sand and they might wash Wendy out to sea. Mist wouldn't do much to help them in that situation either.
"Lapras! Icy wind once more! Add more power to it!"
"PRAS!" Lapras blew a colder stream, while Sandyghast did get more hurt because it cut through the storm. Once their turn had ended Sandyghast was right below them, a smirk on its face.
"Lapras move!" But it was too late, Sandyghast had trapped Lapras in a sand tomb. While the move wasn't super effective, if Lapras got stuck in the sand it'd be helpless to move. Domino wasn't used to battles but her pride and concern for Lapras wouldn't let her show any sign of panic.
"Lapras use water pulse on the sand! Try to get out!" Domino said. Lapras did as told but with another sand tomb she sank even deeper. Just as Domino began to ponder how to save Wendy from drowning after using Surf she heard a voice.
"Persian! Shadow Claw!"
Persian?
A familiar looking Persian came from behind and used Shadow Claw on the Sandygast, knocking it out. Wendy collapsed to the sand and Domino went over to make sure she wasn't dead or something. When she heard the sound of a Pokeball she looked back over to see her boss, Giovanni, standing above where Sandygast previously was, an Ultra Ball in his hand.
"B-Boss? Did you catch that?" Domino asked, surprising herself by stuttering in his presence. Something she had never done before. But this was only the second time Giovnni had seen her after a humiliating defeat.
"Yes, a ground type from the Alola region would be a useful tool for me. Do you think so too, old friend?" However at some point Giovanni had stopped talking to her and was instead directing his words to a man with grey hair and red eyes in the distance. The man just looked blankly at Giovanni, before shrugging and walking away.
"That was quite rude," Domino thought. "But who was that guy anyway? Why did the boss have business with him?"
"You were right before, this Lapras isn't that strong." Giovanni said, looking over to Lapras who had finally been freed from the sand. His words were cold but his gaze wasn't.
"Lapras return," Domino said returning Lapras to her pokeball.
"Get some rest, we have important things to do tomorrow." Giovanni said, turning away from the girls. Once he was gone Wendy regained consciousness.
"Did I really just get possessed by a ghost? I'm a fool!" Wendy announced as she sat up, her head held in her hands. "Where is that thing anyway."
"It's gone, Lapras and I battled it," Domino said. She wasn't lying to Wendy at all, she just left out the detail that she had lost the battle.
"I'll have to thank Lapras later," Wendy said as she stood up. As soon as she was up Wendy didn't even hesitate to launch her foot straight into a nearby rock. It left a dent and little rock bits crumbled to the sand. A startled Wimpod, who had been staying under the rock, scurried away from the scary woman. Wendy then walked over to where her coin purse was in the sand. "All this trouble just for some money, I don't even wanna see the sight of this thing again."
"How about you treat me to a fancy resort dinner?"
"As if! I'll get something for myself!" Wendy said holding the purse to her chest tightly.
"Come on, I helped you look for the damn thing all day! I at least deserve an ice cream cone!"
"Can I get something too? You borrowed my Pokemon for your search after all," Butch was standing at the edge of the cove, grinning like an idiot at the riled up Wendy.
"I'd like to hit up the lounge bar once we get back to the resort," Cassidy said nonchalantly.
"Why would I get YOU anything Cassidy? You didn't do anything!" Wendy retorted.
More little arguments persisted as the 4 Rockets walked back towards the resort. As Domino left the beach behind her she couldn't quite shake the feeling she had forgotten something.
...
Meanwhile later that night… around 3 am to be precise… a man could be heard screaming from the beach.
"Domino! Wendy!? Cassidy!? Brokeback Mountain?!" Dr. Namba, still stuck in the sand, called out. However the effort was futile.
Dr. Namba never did show up to the meeting the next day. Nobody knew what he was going to show the boss, and nobody asked him about his weird sunburn once he returned to Johto.
A/N: *I treat pokedollars like Yen so converted to USD Wendy lost about $183
**Since these are anime characters I used the anime pokedex entry for Sandyghast where it possesses whoever touches the shovel however in the games it possesses anything that puts its hand it's mouth.
Also I know not everyone has watched the Sun and Moon anime or played the Gen 7 games so I'll say the red-eyed man is Nanu. Giovanni calls him in an episode and implies they have some sort of past. I kind of shoehorned him in because 1) he's my favorite Alola character and 2) it gives Giovanni and the agents a reason to come to Alola.
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