A/N: I have a love-hate relationship with the new journeys episode. I wish more of the episode focused on Cassidy and Butch's new lives. I really just wanted to see more of them, understand them more, ya know? I am writing this fic to fill in the blanks and to cope. Sorry if it seems OOC the anime has me all sorts of confused.
"Look James it's nothing personal, but I really can't afford to keep you and that… little black hole of a Pokemon of yours," Cassidy said once she had calmed down.
She was taking an order when she heard the sounds of clinking chinaware and James let out a horrified screech. She turned to see a purple, rodent-like pokemon eating a customer's meal.
"Morepeko!" James scrambled to grab the pokemon. Cassidy just angrily told James to step out and offered to redo the table's orders and comp the whole meal. Then she dragged James outside to yell at him too. But soon she calmed herself down, she had a much easier time doing that nowadays, especially when it came to these particular old coworkers.
"You are very handy and aren't afraid of hard work, if you really want to leave Team Rocket behind you can find work elsewhere," Cassidy calmly explained to the apologetic-looking man.
"I should go catch up with Jessie and Meowth…" He grumbled. She could tell he missed them. She had always known those two were as close as can be. Cassidy was honestly surprised when James came back into the shop alone, saying Jessie, Meowth, and Wobbuffet had continued to chase some Pelipper. It was much like her old friend to not know how to say goodbye to others. Cassidy thought she might never see her again, and now that she was sending James away she might not see him again either. She packed the man some food and bid him farewell. Soon enough he spotted a Pelipper and began to chase it. Who knows if it is even the Pelipper he was chasing before.
"Raticae-" Raticate came up to her side as she watched the retreating back of the man in his uniform. It made her reflect on the time she had spent in this place. It all began after a failed mission…
"Oh, it's Professor Umpa." Click.
"THAT'S NAMBA!"
"Sorry," Cassidy responded dismissively, "What did you want Professor?"
"My Rhydon machine shows it's offline, what did you do to it?" Namba asked. The pair were silent for a moment. Cassidy handed her phone over to Butch so he could respond instead.
"The Hippopadon you wanted us to chase kind of… destroyed it…"
"YOU BROKE MY MECH!"
"Not us! Hippopadon!" Cassidy retorted back, tugging Butch and the phone back in her direction. "And by the way, you and Giovanni told us we were the only ones out in Sinnoh but Jessie and those other two baffons were out here as well! They were trying to get in the way of our plans!"
"As idiotic as they are don't push your failures onto them. This is the third mission in a row you have failed! You know what they say, 'three strikes and you're out'," Namba said with an exasperated sigh. Cassidy could visualize him rubbing his temples in frustration.
"The boss wouldn't fire us, we are his favorite elites," Cassidy proclaimed proudly.
"Yeah yeah but just in case lay low for a bit," the professor instructed. "I gotta do a tax write-off for your screwed-up mech, and speak with Giovanni."
"But how will we get back to base in Kanto?" Butch asked.
"Just stay in Sinnoh for now. I'll get in contact with you soon," As the professor spoke Butch and Cassidy could hear the sound of shuffling papers at the other end of the phone, and Namba's voice became more distant.
"You can't just leave us here-" click.
…
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME! HE HUNG UP ON US!" Cassidy fumed as she threw the phone far away into the sand. "What the hell are we supposed to do stranded in this shit region?"
"Well, we aren't completely stranded…" Butch said rubbing his chin with his hand in thought.
"Oh no, if you are suggesting we go to Jessie and her boy toys for help I will firmly say no. I'd rather die out in this desert," Cassidy said as a look of annoyance spread on her face.
"Nah that's not what I meant, I actually have family in Orburgh City. We could pay them a visit," Butch exclaimed.
"It's better than nothing," Cassidy decided as she went to retrieve her phone from the sand. She pulled up a map of Sinnoh. "Let's see… we left from Jubilife city… do we have to go back there to get Oreburgh?"
"It looks like it," Butch said as he leaned over to look at Cassidy's phone. "We are near Solaceon Town… let's stop there and figure out how to get to Jubilife City."
The pair trudged their tired, sandy bodies to the pokemon center in Solaceon Town. It was a free place to stay as trainers were currently cut off from Team Rocket. They could have camped out but both felt like they deserved to sleep in a bed after all they had been through today. Butch fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Cassidy had a harder time falling asleep. She stared up at the ceiling, she felt so uncertain about everything. She was so confident in how good she was at her job, but now Professor Nama's words echoed in her ears like a bad song.
"There strikes and your out!"
Could Cassidy and Butch really get fired for something as trivial as that? Something about that put a bad taste in her mouth and she realized just how tired she really was. Tired of all the in-fighting, the missions, lectures, and apologies. She kind of wished she could just go to sleep and leave it all behind. She then turned over to Butch sleeping in a bed across from her. But this was the only thing keeping these two together… she didn't want to be left behind. She then looked over at her nightstand. The Pokeball containing Raticate, her friend since she was small, was sitting there. Could we really make it? Just us two?
With that thought in her mind, Cassidy found herself drifting off to sleep.
A few days of travel later they manage to get themselves to Orebergh city, and they were almost piss broke after it. Cassidy hoped this relative of Butch's can help them. On their trek through Oreburgh Gate Cassidy decided to ask her companion about this relative.
"Aren't you from Celedon City? How come you have family out here in Sinnoh?"
"Well, we aren't related by blood…" Butch said as he rubbed his and over the back of his head. "You remember my sister Wendy right?"
"How could I forget? She gives us our paychecks," Cassidy said flatly, an image of the petty HR woman flew into her mind.
"Yeah… after my parents got divorced my mom moved out here and met a miner. They got married and had Wendy after that while my brother Rico and I stayed with our dad in Celedon…" He explained it all almost quietly. He had a distant look on his face as he spoke. As if this was someone else's sad life, not his own. "My mom died when I was 13 but my stepdad still lives out here, we don't have a terrible relationship and he's a nice man… Hopefully he can lend us a place to stay for now."
And now they stood in front of an apartment complex in front of the town's mines. He looked over the list of residents' names and buzzed in when he found the last name he was looking for.
"Hello?" An older gentleman's voice rang out.
"Hey, Richard? It's Butch your stepson, I have a friend and we need some help, can you buzz us in?"
"..." The line went silent for a moment and Cassidy got annoyed. Did we come all the way out here for nothing?
"Of course… give me a moment," The man responded, Butch and Cassidy sighed in relief. As they waited for the door to unlock Butch turned over to Cassidy.
"Oh yeah don't tell Richard that Wendy is a part of Team Rocket, he thinks she has a regular HR job," Butch admitted sheepishly.
"Weren't you the one that got her the job? Brother of the year," Cassidy teased. Before Butch could say anything else The door made a loud clunking sound and the pair walked into the building and headed upstairs. Apartment 208 was where the man was staying. Butch knocked and the man opened it slowly, leaning out to view the pair. He wore a work uniform and had brown hair cut short. A Zubat fluttered behind him, tilting its eyeless little head in confusion at the visitors.
"Buck?" He asked.
"Butch."
"Right Butch, and this is?"
"Cassidy, can we come in?" Cassidy introduced herself curtly as she stood in the hallway with her arms crossed. Butch just gave her a look when observing her impatient attitude.
"Of course come in," the man said. The place was a mess. Plates stacked up in the kitchen, there were lemonade cans and pizza boxes littering the little table that sat in front of a crappy little TV. The only thing that wasn't a mess in this poor excuse for a living room was an altar in the corner of the room. There was a picture of a woman with long green hair and tired eyes, she looked a lot like Butch so she must that prior mentioned dead mother of his.
"You got rid of the pullout couch?" Butch asked.
"Yeah, I don't really need it. With Candela gone and Wendy grown up and moved out I decided to just reclaim the master bedroom," Richard explained.
A one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment provided by the man's works didn't seem to have enough room for one person, let alone three but from the way he spoke and the keepsakes cluttering the place Cassidy figured a family of 3 was raised here. But would there be room for pair with the place in this state?
Richard hurriedly went to clear off the table, he then gestured for everyone to sit down and offered to get them juice from his fridge. Cassidy and Butch sat next to each other on the floor as they waited. When Richard returned with 3 glasses of pecha berry juice Butch explained his situation to the man, leaving out any mention of Team Rocket.
"I see… so you are still struggling even now," Richard commented while shifting his gaze over to that alter. Cassidy also followed his line of sight. For some reason looking at the woman in the photo made Cassidy feel bad. The look in her eyes bore into her soul so she forced herself to turn away.
"I wish you could stay but regulation on who can be here has gotten stricter with all those hunters and bowl cut weirdos causing a ruckus in these parts," Richard explained to the pair apologetically.
"...Thank you anyway. Do you know of anywhere else we can stay?" Butch inquired calmly.
"I do know an acquaintance of mine was looking for help at her cafe up near Celestic City. She is getting on in years so if you two could help her out she'd be sure to let her stay. Let me call her," Richard got up and phoned the woman in question. She agreed to take the two in. With all that settled Richard offered to pay for their bus ticket and walked them to the station.
"The bus will take you through Mt. Coronet and into Celestic City, the cafe is in a little town outside the city, it shouldn't take long to get there on foot. This is as close as I can send you," Richard explained.
"This is more than enough, thank you," Butch thanked the man with a small bow of his head.
Cassidy just stood there silently. She found the relationship between the two to be awkward. They didn't hate each other but it was as if they didn't know how to be around each other. The image of Butch's mother with her tired, almost dead eyes still remained in her brain leaving her more confused and annoyed as she stood in the awkward silence they all had created. Soon the bus had arrived and Cassidy and Butch boarded.
"I'll tell Wendy you stopped by," Richard said waving goodbye to the pair. It was a bit ironic since they were coworkers, Wendy's father didn't know that. Butch just smiled awkwardly and waved in return. Cassidy didn't wait for him as she walked to the back of the bus and sat leaning against a window. Butch soon joined her.
"I'm getting tired of traveling," She said as soon as the bus began to make motion again. "Why hasn't the professor contacted us yet?"
"I don't know, but for now let's enjoy the break from missions," Butch said, trying to remain on the positive side.
"This isn't a break, we are going to work," Cassidy mumbled. Butch just let out a sigh as leaned back in his seat. Cassidy lent over and placed her tired head on his shoulder, her gaze still fixed out the window. Staring mindlessly at the clouds she felt tired, so very tired... Maye Butch was right, this could be just the break she needed from her hectic life.
A/N: I named the stepdad Richard because that's my dads name and I couldn't think of anything better. I spent most of my day helping sort out his stuff in my garage so I guess I just had him on my mind. I will also probably interject some more family headcanons into this story. When BDSP came out I spoke with my friend Audial about how the little girl sprites had Wendy's haircut. He introduced me to the idea that Butch and Wendy were siblings so I mashed our two headcanons together into this fic because it works out well. Also the Rico I mentioned is a poacher who looks suspiciously like Butch in the advanced anime episode where Jessie and James release Arbok and Weezing. I love making familial connections to characters we barely know anything about.
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