From here on out, this story will be known as Pokemon Sojourn: Against the odds as this is basically what it's all about? Also, I'm going to post the next chapter as it's a short chapter that features the Shadow Syndicate, most noticeablly Slifer, Who I named after not the Egyptian God Card from Yu-gi-oh, but from the producer of Yu-gi-oh who thought he was important enough to change the name of one of the god cards so he could name it after himself! (I don't really have any major problems with the dub, aside from a few small things, but that was unforgivable.) Anyways, enjoy this chapter and the next, which should be posted by the time you're finished with this chapter.
Chapter 7: Facing and Burying The Past!
Rex blinked as he looked at Rei. "You mean to tell me that you actually know Butch?"
"Yes…" She replied, almost losing her emotions. "How could I not, after what he has done…"
"What did Butch do?" J.C. asked.
Viki answered, "Well…you know about Celadon gym, right?"
"I know it's a feminist gym!" Rex interrupted. He still remembered how he barely got into the gym, due to their "No Boys Allowed" rule, where he had to go home and put on a pair of high heels, skirt, and to wear a bra with two water balloons stuffed in the cups and call himself "Rexelle" in order to even get an opportunity to battle for the Rainbow Badge. After a few insults that he'd wasn't exactly proud of, as well as a phone call from Racquel who was living in Kanto at the time, they allowed him to come into the gym before "Rexelle" even left the house, hoping that Erica wiped him out and wiped him out hard. After he had won the Rainbow Badge, "Never again," He vowed. He would've tossed the Rainbow Badge in the trash if he had not been trying to get into the Indigo League. And to this day, Racquel never let Rex hear the end of it, after all, it was mostly her clothes he was using in the day Rex was just beginning to forget.
"You want to know why that it's 'a feminist gym?'" Viki replied harshly, tears of her own forming in her eyes. "It's because of some sick pervert with a Primeape who decided to have his way with the Gym Leader and the other trainers!"
"So…" J.C. then put two and two together. "So you're saying that-"
"They were a bit rough, but they soon succumbed after my Primeape took out their weak Pokemon." Butch bragged. "Sure I was sent to jail, but the boss bailed me out, seeing how much of an asset I was to the team and all."
"So it was you…" Rex seethed as he narrowed his eyes, remembering the near humiliation he had to go through because of his actions. "YOU'RE THE REASON WHY I HAD TO DRESS UP IN A DRAG JUST FOR A LOWSY GYM BATTLE!?"
Rei and J.C. were then intrigued in the thought of Rex dressed up like a girl. Rei thought that he'd be cute, while J.C. thought that he'd look good but "not as cute as Racquel."
"I could care less about your problems. We're hear for one-"
"Let me guess…" Rex interrupted Butch. "Our Pokemon!"
Cassidy smirked. "That, and your money. Team Rocket's going to have a huge comeback and what better way to kick it off then to bury our pasts with you losers!"
Rex rolled his eyes, "You became a thief and began to date a rapist and you're calling us losers?"
"Wow Rex, you sure know how to pick 'em." Rei commented about Cassidy.
"Tell me about it. The more I think about her, what she's become, and what she represents, the more I wonder what the hell I ever saw in her."
"That's putting it mildly." Viki said.
"Enough talk!" Butch snapped. "Now give us your pokemon or we'll-"
"You'll do what!?" J.C. snapped. "Anyone who rapes a girl deserves to be shot! And what you did is the lowest thing a human being can do!"
"Yeah!" Rex added.
"And you know what else? You nearly made Rex dress up as a girl, something that should've never happen!"
"Ye-HEY!" Rex snapped at his friend, realizing that it was a diss. True that him dressing up as a girl would be embarrassing, but he still had his pride when it came to looks. He did look pretty good as a girl.
---------------------Flashback----------------
The door slammed open as Rex stormed into the house...well the house he was staying with his mother and sister while he was in Kanto winning badges so he could participate in the Indigo League which he made it to the final four. Because Education was important, his mom make Rex attend school with Racquel. While they may have had their differences, Rex, Racquel, and Viki's parents both believed that education came first so they made sure that they went to school, with Rex and Racquel going to Saffron High, and Viki, who was still in their hometown of Goldenrod, attending Goldenrod Middle. After school, Rex made it a point to train as much as he could so he could train and go to win badges.
Rex stormed passed Racquel who was laying on the couch watching soap operas. Despite them being twins, Rex and Racquel had a few differences: Racquel's hair was 5 inches longer than Rex's and more salon-styled. They both wore an open button-up shirt over a T-shirt, but Racquel wore a miniskirt as opposed to pants. Also, her voice was much sweeter then Rex's as she had a more laid-back attitude, opposing her brother's somewhat hot-headedness.
"What's wrong Rex?" She asked as she heard her brother incoherently mutter a few things.
"Sis, I need to borrow a few things." He said. "That okay with you?"
"Sure…depending on what you're looking for." She said, a bit unsure on what her brother's intentions are.
Rex went into Raquel's room as he began to go through her drawers. After finding what he need, he quickly rushed into the bathroom as he closed the door.
"Umm…Rex? Are you okay?" Racquel asked her twin brother, concerned about him.
"I'm fine…" He said as the sound of water running could be heard.
"You don't act fine…" She said as she then knocked. "Rex Connelly you open this door right now!"
"What are ya, Mom now?" Rex said as the water then shut off. "Don't put your panties in a bunch, I'm coming out!"
Racquel let out a sigh of relief as the door opened, but she soon went into shock. "Rex? What the hell did you do to yourself?" She said as she pointed to Rex, who had somehow, for some reason, grown a pair of breasts.
"So, you like?" Rex grinned, pointing at his new breasts. "I could pose as you, right?"
Racquel was embarrassed. "…I'm not that big, am I?" It was true that her breasts were big, but not the size of slightly-smaller dodge balls like Rex's apparently was. She shook her head, getting back to the subject. "Rex, how did you-"
"Easy: I just took one of your bras! Add two water balloons and voila: instant breasts."
"Rex, why are you even dressing up like a girl?" She asked.
"It's the only way I'm ever going to get into Celadon Gym." He said. "Those discriminating, male-hating Feminist Bi-"
"Okay I get it Rex!" Racquel interrupted him, seeing where he was going. "But aren't you taking this the wrong way?"
"It's the only way…" Rex said as he went back into her room and grabbed a pair of black high heeled boots and a red skirt. "I'll return them after I'm done."
Racquel sighed. "Fine, but if you ruin either one of them, you're paying."
"Whatever…"
--------------------End Flashback-------------------
"Now I remember!" Viki said with a slight giggle. "Racquel had to call the gym so you wouldn't have to go out in public like that."
"It's not funny…" Rex narrowed his eyes at his little sister.
"Enough talk!" Butch and Cassidy yelled as they released their Pokemon!
"Sableye, Go!" Cassidy called out.
"Go Mightyena!" As did Butch as Cassidy's ghost Pokemon and Butch's Dark Pokemon came out from their Pokeballs.
"For old time's sake…" Rex reached back onto his belt with both of his hands as he grabbed a pokeball with each hand, but was stopped when a he felt a hand being placed onto his shoulder.
"Wait Rex!" Rei said. "I know you have your problems with Cassidy, but leave Butch to me." She looked down. "I personally have a score to settle with him."
"But Rei, you don't kno-"
Rei cut him off, "I may not know exactly about this Team Rocket, but I know that aqua-haired pervert should suffer for what he did to my cousin and her gym, and I tend on making sure of it!"
"Is that so…" Butch gave a sickening smirk. "Well make sure of this!" He then ordered his Mightyena, "Mightyena, Take Down!"
With a roar, Mightyena recklessly rushed toward Rei, looking to take her down off her feet the cruelest way possible.
"This is unacceptable…" J.C. muttered as he reached for a Pokeball from his belt. He may have not exactly like Rei McKnight, but he had zero tolerance for any form of physical disrespect towards women. Usually he was an equal opportunist when it came to the opposite sex, but he made a few exceptions. Courtship was indeed one of them, but that was a different story than this.
With force, J.C. took the Pokeball and tossed it out, hopefully to intercept Mightyena before he hit his attack on Rei. "Hitmonchan, Mach Punch!"
As Rei held up her arms to shield herself from the eventual knockdown, the Pokeball opened as Hitmonchan leaped out to hit a high-speed punch onto the Jaw of Mightyena, knocking the Bite Pokemon back, much to Butch's dismay.
Rei unshielded herself as she watched the Hitmonchan pound its fists together. 'J.C. actually saved me? Maybe Viki was right. Maybe he isn't the insensitive jerk I thought he was…' She thought.
"Not only is he a rapist, but Bud's also a potential woman abuser. You sure know how to pick 'em, Cas." Rex disapprovingly shook his head in disgust.
"His name is 'Botch…'err I mean 'Butch!'" Cassidy snapped at Rex, flustered, then yelled at him as she glared at him. "You see what you made me do!?"
"Nope and I don't care!" Rex shrugged effortlessly. "Beside, I don't control your actions."
"Wipe that smug look off your face because that Hitmonchan's going down!" Cassidy then ordered her Sableye. "Sableye, Night Shade!"
"Sableye (My Pleasure)!" The Sableye joined the fray as she then released a dark stream of energy at an unsuspecting Hitmonchan, who was just about to deliver another punch to Mightyena.
"Hitmonchan!' J.C. cried out for his Pokemon, who was now getting double team by both of Team Rocket's Pokemon. Every time Hitmonchan went for an attack on Butch's Mightyena, Cassidy's Sableye would move it out of the way. And since Hitmonchan's fighting-type moves were against a Ghost type, they didn't have any effect as they went right through her, leaving Mightyena to attack Hitmonchan.
Refusing to see his friend being double-teamed by his Ex and apparently her new boyfriend, Rex reached back to grab a pokeball… 'You want to play on Hitmonchan's weakness, well play on this…' He grabbed a hold of it, "Shadow g-" Before he tossed the Pokeball, he remembered: He had left Shadow, Crush, and Charex at the Pokemon Center to recover after the battle against Rei.
"Umbreon, use Confuse Ray on Sableye!" Rei ordered as she tossed out a Pokeball. Just because Rex didn't have his Umbreon to use against Cassidy's Sableye doesn't mean she couldn't use hers. As it opened, Umbreon came out and, from her eyes, shined a red light onto Sable Eye! Unlike Rex's shiny Umbreon, Rei's had yellow stripes and red eyes instead of blue stripes and yellow eyes. After a few moments, Sable began to become dazed as she then didn't have a clue what was going on.
'Hitmonchan saved me from Mightyena and now it's time to return the favor…' Rei then ordered, "Now Umbreon, Bite!"
With a growl, Umbreon leaped up and sank her teeth into Sableye, much to Cassidy's shock.
"Oh no!" She cried as Butch seethed.
"Mightyena, Roar!" He ordered as the Bite pokemon began to bark loudly and fiercely, which caused Hitmonchan and Umbreon to return to J.C. and Rei's Pokeballs.
"Damn…" J.C. said as his Hitmonchan was being recalled back to his pokeball.
"I'm not giving up yet!" Rei grabbed another Pokeball from her bag. "Eevee go!" She tossed the pokeball as it then opened, out came the pre-evolved form of her other Pokemon.
"Neither am I." J.C. tossed out another Pokeball as well. "Hitmonlee go!" As it opened, the kicking pokemon jumped up and got into it's regular stance of balancing on one foot while holding up the other.
"Eevee Bite!"
"Hitmonlee, Hi Jump Kick!"
Eevee clamped hard onto the tail of Mightyena, who yelped in pain! He did not see a hard flying kick headed towards his head at a high speed, which knocked him down for the count.
Viki let out a giggle. "Rei and J.C. make a pretty good team. Don't you think, Big Bro?"
"I dare you to tell that to them." Rex smirked as he challenged her.
"Why not you!?"
"You're the one who mentioned it."
Sableye, Shadow Ball!" Cassidy ordered, deciding to avenge her partner's Mightyena by taking both of their Pokemon out at once as a huge chunk of dark energy began to form in Sableye's hand.
"Sableye! (Say goodbye!)" The Sableye threw the shadow ball as it swerved as it then hit Eevee, but it didn't have any effect on her, since Ghost-Type attacks had no effect on Normal types, and vise-versa.
"You know that your Ghost attacks don't work on Eevee Cassidy. Just give it up!" Rei smirked.
"Forget it!" Cassidy hissed.
"Okay…Eevee?"
"Vee?" The Evolution pokemon looked back at her trainer.
"Take a bite out of her!" Rei ordered as Eevee then bite down hard onto Sableye's hand! Causing the emerald-eyed Pokemon to yelp out in pain! "Now use your Shadow Ball Eevee!"
With a nod, Eevee released a ball of dark energy from her mouth as it then hit Sableye, knocking her down and out!!
Angered by their Pokemon's defeat, Butch and Cassidy recalled their Pokemon back into their Pokeballs.
"Are you done?" J.C. smirked.
"You had enough?" Rei added.
"We haven't even started!" The two Team Rocket members shouted as they each grabbed two Pokeballs. However, they were interrupted as the sound of sirens could be heard. "Oh no!" They exclaimed as they glared at the group.
"You may have gotten lucky today, but you better watch your back!" Cassidy warned.
"Consider this a draw, this isn't over between us! We'll be back!" Butch added as Cassidy threw out a Pokeball.
"Houndour, Smokescreen!" She ordered as the Pokeball opened, revealing the dark fire-type pokemon as it then shot out a dark stream of smoke from his mouth which covered the area. Causing Rex and co. to shield their eyes with their hands and cough as they covered their mouths to protect themselves from breathing the smoke.
"How kind of them…" Rei said sarcastically as the blonde-streaked redhead took out a paper fan to attempt to blow the smoke away. "Are they always like this!"
"They can be worse, trust me!" Rex coughed as the smoke then cleared away. After the scene was clear, Team Rocket was gone.
"Where'd they go?" Viki asked.
"I'm not sure…" J.C. said, but looked at his Pokemon. "But at least my Hitmonlee's safe."
"Lee!" The Kicking Pokemon grunted.
"My Eevee's okay." Rei noted as the brown-furred Pokemon nuzzled up onto her master's leg.
Suddenly, the siren became louder as an Officer Jenny, on a motorcycle, came towards the group as the vehicle then screeched into a halt.
"Is everyone alright?" She asked. "I received calls about an explosion of smoke and I came out here to investigate."
"Well…two Team Rocket members were here, but they've left." J.C. explained, much to the confused expression of Officer Jenny.
"Team Rocket? Who are they?" She asked. Apparently in the Hoenn Region, no one has heard of the notorious Team Rocket.
"Long Story short: They're a group of thieves." Rex explained. "But they're more or less washed up."
"Okay…But Pokemon Snatching is Illegal and won't be ignored." Jenny declared as she revved up the bike. "Those two couldn't have gone far." And with that she speed off, looking to catch Butch and Cassidy.
"Just for reference, they're wearing black uniforms with the red letter 'R' on top!" Rei gave her reference before turning back to the three travelers. "So, I guess you all are staying at the Pokemon Center for the night.
"Actually, we're-" Rex's mouth was covered by Viki's hand.
"Yes, we are actually!" She said, much to the disdain of Rex.
"Viki! I would like to get to the next gym before the three months is up!" Rex reminded.
"I'm doing you a favor by keeping you from stressing yourself out! I mean your Pokemon had just battled and they would probably want some time off!" Viki explained.
"That's why I rotate my Pokemon, so while they're fighting, the others can rest!"
"Viki's right, your Pokemon needs a breather. Why don't you tour around Oldale Town?" Rei suggested.
"For once, I agree with you!" J.C. said to Rei.
Rex sighed, knowing that his friends and sister were right. He could use some time off before he causes himself so much stress he becomes sick, resulting in him definitely throws his chances of competing in the Hoenn league out the window. "I guess a little down time couldn't hurt…"
So the trio decides to stay in Oldale town for a while! Is this a good idea, or will it cost Rex? As for next chapter, it'll feature the Shadow Syndicate and focus on Slifer's ambitions, and a hint of his plan...