A'right y'all here's the next chapter! A Gym Battle is coming up soon, as well as Viki's first contest! Don't be surprised if the Shadow Syndicate decides to make an appearance during either one of them!

Chapter 15: Bus Ride To Fallarbor Town! Rex At Lavaridge Hospital!

At the Bus Station back in Oldale town, Viki sat on the bench, legs crossed as she sighed. This was not the type of Hoenn experience she wanted! She wanted to travel with J.C. and her brother, watching him get enough badges to participate in the Hoenn League, jumpstarting her career as a Pokemon Coordinator, and seeing J.C. catch a Medicham for him to defeat Sabrina and her Kadabra and restore the Fighting Pokemon Gym to its former glory! Not having an encounter with the Shadow Syndicate, having Rex be captured and taken somewhere near Mt. Chimney!

Now she was waiting for J.C. to get the tickets for the bus ride all the way to Fallarbor Town! Hopefully, they'll find him and go to the route to Verdanturf Town so she could register for Contests.

"Viki!"

She looked up as she saw the ebony-haired guy holding too boarding passes. "Here ya go!" He noticed Viki's downed expression. "Hey, he's fine, alright? Look, I known Rex for a long time and when the going gets tough, he always finds a way! Did I mention that he went into the Pokemon Tower where they held funeral services for Pokemon in Lavender Town?"

Viki blinked. "You really think Rex'll be okay?"

"Yeah…He better be! Out of the both of us, Rex actually has beaten Sabrina, and I'm going to need his advice on how to beat her!" J.C. pounds a fist into his hand.

Viki giggled, imagining J.C. hammering on her brother, looking for the secret of beating the Psychic Pokemon Gymleader at Saffron City! "So when do we leave!"

"In about 20 minutes! We're pretty lucky to get good seats on the bus!"

"Oh…Okay…"

"So what do you plan on doing once you start going for contests?" He asked.

"Well…I've already told Rex this, but I'm going to have Josephine do her Flamethrower fountain!" Viki said with pride.

"That's cool!"

"It is! I'll show you, but it's true crowded. Maybe when we get to Fallarbor Town."

"Good idea! We want to get where we're going first before we go somewhere else!"

"Now boarding for Bus 314 on Route to Fallarbor Town! Now boarding for Bus 314 on Route to Fallarbor Town!" The voice on the P.A. informed.

"That's us!" J.C. got up as he grabbed his bag. "Are you ready Viki?"

She nodded as she held her bag. "Let's find my brother! Then we can continue our journey through Hoenn!" She sighed. "I just hope that he's okay…"

…

"So…how is he?" Aurora asked a doctor outside the door to Rex's hospital room as the brown-haired doctor tilted his wire-framed glasses.

"Our diagnostics showed that his stress level is abnormally high, it may be even life-threatening!" He informed. "Was there anything specific you might know that could've caused this?"

"Well… Rex did take a Hyper Beam attack from a Pokemon to save me! But what kind of Pokemon escapes me…" Aurora stated. She decided the leave out the type of Pokemon that attacked because she felt that the doctor wouldn't have believed her if she told him. "And he got attacked by a Grovyle, again to save me!"

The doctor took note. "I see…anything else?"

"Well…he's under the pressure to win eight badges to enter the Hoenn League in Three Months." She said. "That's enough to make anyone stressed out!"

"Hmm…we'll have to keep him here overnight! Normally, bed rest would be the perfect medicine for a stressed-out person! But in your friends case, this much stress could lead to a mental breakdown if it continues!"

Aurora nodded, "I see…"

Inside the ivory white room, Rex was in a deep sleep on the bed. However, he tossed and turned a bit as bad memories haunted him in his slumber: Memories, such as his very short relationship with Cassidy, as well his most major losses: His loss in the finals at the Johto League Silver Conference to Jon Dickson! His loss to that same girl he met years ago in that double Pokemon battle! And his most humiliating defeat of all: Him and Drego losing quickly in a Pokemon battle to Lance and his Dragonite.

His teeth began to grit against each other. "No way…not in hell…" He muttered in his sleep as he turned again. His muscle tensed up as a silent moan came out from his mouth.

"Relax…" A young nurse placed her hand onto his shoulder. "You're becoming stressed out again! Just relax…" Rex continued tossing and turning as she continued to tell him to relax, concerned for his health. Until finally…he stopped as the flatline dropped down to a safer pace. "Whatever it is you're thinking about, it must've been very important to you…"

The nurse left the room, leaving the red-haired boy alone in the room to sleep…

…

"Rex…? Earth to Rex…!"

"…"

"Rex…"

"…"

"You asked for it…"

Rex's eyes opened wide as he saw his nose being pinched as he looked at a girl who was a mirror image of himself-literally! Despite a few differences... "Geez Racquel, did you really have to do that?" He complained. "You could kill someone like that!"

"It was the only way to get you to wake up, finally!" Racquel crossed her arms.

"Hey, I was tired!" He shrugged.

"Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you weren't so much of a, you know, train-a-holic?"

"Train-a-holic? That's new…"

"Could you at least get up from the couch now that you're awake? Didn't you say that you were going to Hoenn?"

"Yeah, in a few days! We have to wait until J.C. gets the tickets for the cruise ship!" Rex explained. "So why are you so cranky this morning my dear sister?"

"You'd be cranky too if you basically have to tend to 25 Rhyhorn every day!" Racquel stated as she rubbed the bruise on her right thigh, which was covered by her red pleated skirt.

"If they're that much of a bother, then why don't you just keep them in the box!" Rex jumped off the couch as he stretched out a bit.

"You know how I feel about Pokemon being cooped up in their Pokeballs all day, let alone with the Pokeballs stored in a box!" Racquel reminded in a slightly scolding tone. "Why don't you release them into the wild or trade 'em with someone? They are rare Pokemon after all."

"Bad idea, Sis!" Rex informed, "If we do that, then Lash would be upset! And the last thing we need is an upset Rhydon to handle!"

"Good point! He doesn't want his family to be separated!" Racquel giggled. "But seriously, you have to do something with them! After all, they're your Pokemon!"

"So I got too much into the whole Safari Zone thing!" Rex shrugged. "Okay. Besides, Edge and Shellshock could use a bit of training!"

"Yeah…that is if they don't think of each other as the targets!" Racquel reminded.

"Thank you Lady 'Glass-Half-Empty!'" Rex sarcastically said as he then walked upstairs.

"Hey, take it easy! One of these days you'll be so stressed out it'll kill you!" Racquel shouted to him as Rex walked into his room before collapsing onto his bed. Another busy day for him, it seemed. It could be worse: He could be like most people his age and studying their asses off for some job they won't even get, let alone not being their dream job.

Rex felt an envelope drop down onto his head, most noticeably the corner part as Rex felt. "Hey…" He grabbed said envelope as he looked at the source where it came from…

"Open it, Rex!" Viki urged as Rex did. He then took out the letter enclosed, not bothering to look at it. "Let me guess: Junior Prom, right?"

Viki nodded. "Have you decided who you want to ask out yet?"

Rex sighed, "Viki, I'm already having enough girl problems as it is without knowing about Junior Prom!"

"Is Whitney still bothering you?" She asked, curious.

"About Prom? Yeah! Prom's in two days and I'm not sure if I even want to go! Let alone with Whitney, Téa, or Kerone!"

"Three choices?"

"You know about my deal with Whitney! She keeps emailing me so much about it that my inbox is already filled! I already owe Kerone a favor for bailing me out of Detention about a year ago! And I don't even want to get started on that French girl, Téa. For all I know she's probably wants to stick it to one of her little friends and say 'Me regarder maintenant! I'm dating the son of the President of the Johto branch of Devon Corp, no? Heeheeheehee!' Do you know how annoying that is?"

Viki sighed, looking dejected. "I see…"

Rex sighed, "Now you're making me feel guilty…" He decided to change the now-depressing subject into a more positive one. "Anyways, you're ready to go to Hoenn!"

Viki winked. "You bet! After Prom's done, I'm going to jumpstart my career as a Pokemon Coordinator!"

"That's cool! Just don't overwork yourself!"

"You're the last person who needs to lecture anyone about overworking yourself, Rex Connelly!"

"Hey, I know when to quit!" Rex responded defensively.

"That's why you collapsed on the couch last night when you came home!" Viki said in a yeah-I-saw-you kind of voice. "Honestly, I always thought of you to be an over-achiever when it came to Pokemon, but this is unhealthy!"

"Now you're beginning to sound like Racquel!" Rex threw his hands up as he got up. "I'm gonna take a quick shower, then begin training!"

"Okay…" Viki nodded as Rex went to leave his room. She called out to him, just before. "Rex?"

"Hmm?" He turned back.

"Remember what I said, okay?"

"Okay, but I'm not making any promises. I'll judge by how much the decision I make can break-"

"It's not Prom I'm talking about!" She informed. "I'm really worried about your health! I mean, when was the last time you hung out with friends or at least relax! Even your Pokemon take more time off than you do! What I'm just trying to say is, take it easy! It's not like you'll be creamed in less in five minutes!"

Rex sighed, 'But that's exactly what's happened lately!' He thought about his battle with Lance, the Dragon Trainer. 'Maybe I do need to relax a bit…'

…

"…"

"Rex?"

"…"

"Rex?"

"…" His eyes began to slowly open as his eyes began to get used to the light. Afterwards, he saw a magenta-haired nurse standing next to him, placing a hand on top of his. "Wha…Wha-"

"Shh…relax…" She insisted. "You're just stressed out! The last thing you need is to get worked up!"

"Just tell me…where am I?" He asked as he lay back on the pillow.

"You're at Lavaridge Hospital!"

"Lavaridge? Rex then sighed, as he remembered. But then how did I get here?"

"A girl and her Feraligatr brought you here!" She explained. "You were unconscious."

"A girl and-Wait a sec! Aurora…but how did she get my Pokemon to cooperate?"

"Maybe he was as worried about you as she was…" She explained. "Try to get some rest…"

"Rest?" Rex scoffed. "Are you kidding me? I have three months to get eight badges and so far I only have one! The last thing I need is to start slacking off now, otherwise I'll never get into the Hoenn League!"

"Slow down! You need to take it easy, or you'll get stressed out again!" The nurse warned as Rex got out of bed. Now noticing the hospital gown he was wearing. "Where's my clothes?" He looked over to a chair where his clothes were nicely folded. "Okay." He said as he went to grab his black cargo pants.

"Sorry…I can't let you leave." She informed him.

"Oh come on, I'm fine!" Rex assured as he buttoned up the pants, then going to remove his gown...

"No you're not!" She said. "You need to be resting!"

Rex now placed on his black shirt, then his white socks as he sighed. "Okay…I can't waste anymore time just lying on my back!" He stated.

"I am not going to have your health being endangered on my conscience!" She declared. "Even if I'm going to have to strap you to your bed, you're not leaving!"

Rex placed on his sneakers as he tied the laces then tightened the straps. "I'll tell you what, I'll leave and you say that I snuck out, and I'll give you a fifty! Deal?"

The nurse began to glare. "I am shocked and appalled that you'd think that I'd accept a bribe!" She crossed her arms. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Rex grabbed his Pokeball-filled belt as he placed it on. "Hey, I'm just trying whatever works." He shrugged. "Now, if you excuse me I need to get to a Pokemon Center to heal my Pokemon!"

"Oh no you're not!" The nurse blocked the door.

"Tell ya what, after I'd healed my Pokemon, I'll relax in the hot springs if that'll make you happy!" Rex offered as he placed on his red open shirt.

"But…But…" She was now speechless. He did have a point as hanging out in the hot springs could reduce stress. But her honor as a nurse was at stake. She was basically torn between her duty and her feelings.

"Hey, at least I won't be stressed out in the hot springs!" He reminded as he grabbed his backpack. "Right?"

With a sigh, the nurse moved out the way. "You better head straight to the hot springs after your Pokemon are healed!"

"Don't worry, I will…" He smiled as he walked pass the nurse. "Don't worry, like I said. Just tell them that I snuck out!"

The nurse sighed as she watched him leave. "I hope I don't get fired for this…"

…

The Bus has just passed Petalburg City as Viki looked out the window. She now knew why the called it Petalburg City as she saw a lot of flowers. But still, her worried look on her face was for her brother!

"I'm telling ya! He's fine! J.C. assured as he noticed that dark-blonde girl's expression. "I mean, for all we know, Rex could be somewhere right now getting in the middle of a conflict between two girls and have no way of calling!" He took out from his bag a guidebook of Hoenn he just bought back at the bus station in Oldale Town. "It said here that there's at least 5 different contest spots all throughout Hoenn." He said, in attempt to cheer her up. "By winning five Contest Ribbons, a Pokemon Coordinator is qualified to enter the Pokemon Grand Festival!"

Viki blinked. "Pokemon Grand Festival?"

J.C explained, "The Pokemon Grand Festival is where all the best Coordinators get together to show off their best Pokemon! A Coordinator can use up to two Pokemon in a Double Mock battle rather than one in a regular contest.

As the bus drove into Petalburg Woods, it was then when Viki decided that the Pokemon she was going to use would be Vivi! She remembered when the salesman tricked her into buying her, saying that it could help her win lots of contests. And she remembered he comments Rei made about Vivi! She was going to prove her wrong! She was going to prove them all wrong about an "ugly" Pokemon like a Feebas being incapable of winning a Pokemon Contest.

Viki sighed, as much as she wanted to show off her flamethrower fountain, she wouldn't be able to now, since she decided to use Vivi in a contest..

"I definitely have my work cut out for me…" She sighs as the Bus entered Rustburo City. Home of the Hoenn branch of the Devon Corporation!

Having seen Viki's worried expression on her face, J.C. whistled from a high pitch to a low one, mimicking the sound of a bomb dropping. "Good thing I'm not a coordinator!" He admitted, which made Viki giggle a bit.

"Racquel could be a coordinator too, if she wanted to! But instead she's dedicating her life to Pokemon Breeding!"

"Hey, why stop doing what you enjoy? Just so you can be miserable? I would never do that…"

Viki blinked at what the ebony-haired boy said. "I'm surprised you didn't say anything about Racquel, from what Rex tells me…"

"No offense Viki, but your brother can be an exaggerating over-protective know-it-all! It's not like I'd immediately run up to her, grab her hands and annoy the hell out of her by romancing her!"

Viki giggled, picturing J.C. dressed as Romeo climbing up a ladder to express his feelings to Racquel through her window.

"Besides…Promise me you won't tell Rex about anything I'm about to tell you."

"Sure!" Viki nodded.

"Seriously! I know how much of a blabbermouth you can be!"

"You can trust me! My lips are sealed." Viki made a zipper motion to her mouth.

"Okay…" J.C. sighed. "I've taken a bit of interest in Rei, lately!" He raised an eyebrow at Viki's sudden giggling. "What?"

"I knew it! About a day ago, you hated her! Now you're in love with her!" She cooed, "How romantic!"

"Remember Viki, not a word to Rex. If it all goes south he'll never let me live it down!"

"Okay!" Viki nodded as she made another zipper motion to her mouth.

…

Outside, Rex walks around in search of a Pokemon Center. As much as he wanted to train his Pokemon and head for, if it existed, Lavaridge Gym, he had to heal his Pokemon first then relax at the Hot Springs! If he remembered correctly, wasn't the Pokemon Center near the hot springs? He should, after all he visited that place the last time he was here. But that was a long time ago…

"Now where's the Pokemon Center again…" He pondered as he looked around at the various buildings in the town. However, Rex couldn't help but wonder about Viki and J.C. He knew that J.C. could keep cool under pressure, but Viki could get very emotional. Too emotional if the situation was serious enough. As much as he hated to do this, he'd have to defeat whoever was the Gym Leader here to get a badge and then go find them! And he'd have to do this quickly!

After a couple of miles, Rex finally made it to the center! "Good, now to heal my Pokemon!" He said, but before he could open the door…

"Are not!"

"Are to!"

"Are not!"

"Are to!"

Rex shook his head. "Girls arguing… Nothing new about that…" He opened the door to enter, ignoring the girls' arguments until he stopped in his tracks. 'Wasn't that Aurora's voice?' Rex pondered before he blinked in shock and confusion. 'Both of them?' As much as it went against his better judgment, Rex decided to go follow the source of the voice. "Unless Aurora's got a clone, she's got issues." Rex continued his path towards the source of his interest, hearing more of this argument.

"You got a problem, Aurora?"

"Yeah! She's loud, obnoxious, and uses cheap hair gel!"

"Well your tastes in clothes suck!"

"So does your taste in Pokemon! I mean Fire Types? Puh-Lease!"

"Let's get a second opinion!"

"Okay…I'm going back to the Pokemon Center." Rex said as he turned back. The last thing he needed was to get caught into the middle of the argument. "'Get involved with a female argument and you're asking for trouble!' That's what my father always say…"

"Hey! Hey you!"

Rex stopped, realizing that it was too late to leave now. "Oh man…" He sighed. Now he was going to get it from Aurora… "I appreciate you bringing me to the hospital but I'm not going to just lay in the hospital all day long! I do have other things to do, ya know!"

"…What are you talking about?" She said with a confused tone.

"Don't act like you forgot about what we just went-" He stopped after he turned around as he looked at the girl. "You're not Aurora…"

"Duh!" She replied. For one thing her clothes were different as she just wore a T-shirt and baggy jeans. Even her hair was different as unlike Aurora's hair, hers was placed up in a ponytail, which split into four strands going into different directions. "I just wanted to ask for your opinion!"

"Opinion for what?" Rex asked.

"Which type of Pokemon is better: Fire types or Ice types!" She said proudly. "My sister thinks that Ice Types are superior to Fire Types!" She scoffed, "As if!"

"…I'll be right back!" Rex made an attempt to leave, but his arm was pulled…more like yanked back!

"Come on!" She proceeded to drag the shocked and confused Rex by the arm! The poor trainer was speechless!

"Hey…calm down…I can walk!" Rex tried to reason with the redhead. 'She's got a good grip…'

She dragged him all the way to a building which somewhat had an appearance of a temple, but more of a modern house. Standing outside was Aurora, who wasn't exactly in the best of moods. "Here Aurora, let's have him decide which types are better: Fire Types of Ice Types!"

She narrowed her eyes. "You got so desperate to prove your point that you dragged just anyone out of the street, Flannery! How sad!" Aurora then glared at Rex. "And you should be at the Hospital resting!"

"Hey, I was going to the Pokemon Center to heal my Pokemon before going to the hot springs! But then I heard you guys having a yelling contest!"

Flannery pouted. "Now you're going to be biased towards her, since you two know each other!"

"No, he's going to just tell the truth!" Aurora boasted. "He should know how powerful Ice Types are, since his Pokemon were getting thrashed by them earlier!"

Rex narrowed his eyes. "Did you have to bring that up?"

"Shut up!" Flannery shouted. "Everyone knows that Ice Types don't stand a chance against a Fire Type! Isn't that right buddy?" She elbowed Rex in the ribs.

"Hey!" Rex rubbed the elbowed ribs. "It's true that Fire Types have a distinct advantage against Ice Types. But-"

"See! He knows that Ice Types aren't nothing compared to Fire Pokemon!"

"Ha!" Aurora brushed it off. "All it takes is one Sheer Cold and it's over. Besides, most Ice Types know water moves to defend against a Fire Pokemon's attack! Besides, my Sealeo knows Water Gun!"

"Your Sealeo?"

"It involved during our battle! Right Rex?"

Rex nodded as he then turned to leave. "I gotta heal my Pokemon. Need to do some drills with my Wartortle and my Feraligatr!"

Flannery watched him leave as she couldn't help but wonder from what she just heard Rex said. "You look familiar…" She said.

"Let me guess: You saw the Johto League Silver Conference and saw my Rhydon get thrashed by Dickson's Rapidash! Big whoop…" Rex rolled his eyes.

"No not that…something else…Hmm…" Flannery's eyes went wide as she ran up to Rex before grabbing his long hair and holding it in a ponytail. She then looked at his face at a closer examination. "Umm hmm… Now I remember you! You're the kid with the bickering water Pokemon that my Slugma thrashed!"

Rex blinked in shock. The flashback was all too familiar to him. "You're the one with the Slugma?"

As did Aurora! "You faced Flannery before?"

"When we were little kids!" She explained. "He had his Squirtle and Totodile up against Meg and Mag, and ended up getting thrashed because his two Pokemon couldn't get along!" Flannery looked towards her sister. "You faced him in a double battle, right?"

"Yeah." Aurora nodded.

"How well did he do?"

"Better than he did with you! This time he at least knocked out one of my Pokemon… that is of course after he lost two of them!

"Rex still sucks in double battles, I see!"

"Yep!"

Rex narrowed his eyes. "…Are you done? If you are, I'm going to leave…" He turned around and proceeded to leave. Feeling that he had enough humiliation for one day. 'Lovely, the one thing they apparently agree on involves poking fun at my expense…'

"Oh no you're not!" Both sisters grabbed onto him as they pulled him back! Rex began to wish that he were back at the Hospital. At least then he wouldn't have been humiliated and dragged into the middle of their little scuffle.