PokeMon Johto: Crystal's Journey

Chapter Two:

Enter Team Rocket!

Author: Ashley Angel

Rating: PG-13

Catergory: Other Trainers

Disclaimer: I own no PokeMon at all (I'm afraid it's true), but I do own the trainers you've never met before (they're mine so don't get any funny ideas). And people, I'm making up the names of the badges - this is set in the future you know!

Summary: Crystal Ketchum, new trainer, has registered into the League and now finds her long lost brother, Devon Ketchum. Meanwhile, Misty is three months pregnant and Ash is no where to be seen. What's going on?!

* * *

"And you were planning to tell me this . . . when?" Crystal Ketchum asked her mother furiously, over the phone. "It just slipped your mind that you had a thirteen-year-old son in the world that disappeared for eight years?"

"Uh, I'm fourteen," Devon said uncertainly.

"Actually, no, honey," Misty called from the phone. "You're thirteen."

"I told you so," Crystal snapped at him. He was her sister and they were acting like children - like they had before Devon had been taken away.

"Of course not Honey," Misty said, trying to reassure her daughter. "We were going to tell you when you were-. . ."

"Old enough," Crystal interrupted. "Always when I'm old enough. I'm old enough now, Mum. I'm a PokeMon Trainer. I'm twelve for heavens sakes! And now you're pregnant? Mum, you and Dad need to keep your hands off each other."

"Crystal Ketchum, apologise at once! What a horrible things to say!" Misty hissed over the phone. "Besides, keep it quiet, no one else knows."

"What about Dad? Does he know?" Crystal asked her mother. She saw her mother become anxious over the phone. "You haven't told him!"

"I . . . uh, can't find him," Misty admitted.

"Huh? How could you loose a full grown male? Oh wait, you lost a little boy, so it won't be too hard," Crystal snarled. Her mother glared up at her from the phone.

"Can I speak to him?"

"Who, Dad?" Crystal asked, her face confused.

"Devon, honey. Devon!" Misty said, her eyes widening as she said the words. She hadn’t spoken to her only son in eight years, and she was anxious to see how her 'big baby' was.

"Here," Crystal said, thrusting the phone into Devon's hands. She went off into a corner and sank. She put her head on her knees and stayed like that, not moving.

"She'll get over it," he heard from the phone. The warm face of Misty Ketchum grinned up at him from the phone. Her red hair and blue eyes made her face look all “motherly”.He looked at the phone and asked in a confused tone, "Mum?"

"Yes, honey, it's me," she replied, smiling warmly. "It's been soo long. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Where's my father?" Devon asked.

"He's not here right now, he's at work . . . I think." His mother replied. "I'm so sorry we had to leave you, but it was for the best."

"The best?!" They heard Crystal shout. "I hardly think so!"

"Honey, keep to yourself would you?" Misty shouted back. "Good luck with Falkner!"

"Yeah, right," Crystal muttered getting up and taking the phone from Devon. "Bye Mum."

"Bye honey. Bye Devon, now you know the truth." Misty told him, giving him another warm smile, which he returned. Crystal rolled her eyes and turned the phone off, placing it in the back pocket of her jeans.

"Well, you coming?"

"Yeah," Devon replied, grinning. He packed up his laptop, his other belongings and hoisted them onto his backpack.

* * *

"Violet City Gym?" Devon asked her as they stopped outside the building. "You sure you're ready for this?"

"Yep," Crystal replied, turning her hat backwards, just as Ash had always done before capturing a PokeMon. "I've been battling tons of trainers since I got here, so I think I'm ready."

"Are you sure though? I've got tons of info on him, and he's a pretty hard battler," Devon asked, trying to get her down from her 'I must win' phase.

"You're right. I gotta train some more," she told him, leading him to a tall tower. "Bellsprout Tower. Should give me some practice."

The entered the tall tower, only to be engulfed by darkness. Devon felt Crystal stiffen next to him, and then, he felt it. Something was not right. . . from the outside, Bellsprout Tower was warm and inviting, not dark and gloomy.

"Ha ha ha!"

"Prepare for trouble!" A female voice shouted.

"And make that double!" A male echoed.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To define the evil of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the skies above!"

"Jemma!"

"Joey!"

"Team Rocket will blast off in a speed of light."

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, dats right!"

Through this whole 'theme song motion' Crystal had raised her hand to her belt. In front of them appeared three figures, two bigger than the other (way bigger).

"Do you know these people?" Devon whispered in her ear.

"Nup, but I remember my Dad talking about these Rocket guys," Crystal said thoughtfully. At the world 'Rocket' the three members (a teen boy, a teen girl and a Meowth who looked very old), turned to face the two siblings.

"Yeah, we're Team Rocket," the girl piped up, her voice sounding like she was only five-years-old. "We're the best group in the world."

"That's very nice, but we're here to battle the Bellsprout Tower Elites. Do you know where they are?" Crystal asked them, paying no attention to them.

"Uh. . . no, we don't, but we will battle you," the boy said, becoming quite embarrassed. Crystal looked up at him, blinking.

"You guys are the Bellsprout Tower Elites?" Devon asked, not believing his eyes. "You look a little young . . ."

"So what if we're young?" The girl snapped, her voice becoming a teenager again. "We'll battle you."

"Okay," Crystal said, agreeing. She turned to Devon, who was protesting, and said, "Look, you said I need some practice, so I'm going to practice."

"But . . . but . . . all right," Devon protested, eventually giving in.

"So you in or out, little girl?" The boy said. He lowered his superior tone and said in a dark, mysterious voice, "I'm Joey by the way."

"Really? I thought you were Jemma," Crystal teased. A smirk appeared on her tom-boyish face. She smirked exactly like her father, Ash Ketchum did.

"Oi, Jemma, who did Dad say smirked like that?" Joey hissed to his sister. "Didn't he say Ash Ketchum smirked like that?"

"But I thought Ash Ketchum was a guy," the girl called Jemma replied. She took off her hat with the big 'TR' on it, to reveal sandy blonde hair.

"That explains a lot," Crystal muttered to Devon, who snorted with laughter.

"Yes, I know that, so that must be . . .?" Joey said, testing his sister.

"His . . . twin?" Jemma piped, her blonde side showing.

"No! His daughter! His daughter, Crystal Ketchum!" Joey hissed again. "And if we win this match, what would Dad do to us?"

"Spank us?"

"NO! He'll reward us and we'll be the best Team Rocket in the world!" Joey said, his superior tone returning.

"I thought we already were the best Team Rocket in the world," Jemma said thoughtfully. Joey sighed deeply and said, "Just leave this to me."

"But I wanna- . . ." Jemma started protesting. Her protesting turned into wailing. "I wanna beat Ash Ketchum’s daughter!"

"No, I want to. Scissors, paper, rock," he said, his face full of determination. They did a quick round of scissors, paper, rock, with Joey winning.

"Fine," the blonde said, agreeing quickly.

"Uh. . . hello? Are going to battle or what?" Crystal asked him. "It's been fifteen minutes, and I'm getting bored."

"Okay, we'll start."

"I want to analyse this," Devon said, sitting down with his laptop out, his face full of excitement.

"Alright, knock yourself out," Crystal replied, shrugging. She turned to Joey who had a Poke Ball ready. "I'm ready."

"Alright," Joey told her. He raised the Poke Ball and shouted, "Go Mankey!"

The little monkey PokeMon popped out, showing off its muscles. Crystal examined it for a second and then snapped her fingers.

"That's it!" She yelled. "Go Quilava!"

The medium sized fire-PokeMon came out its Poke Ball, it's eyes flashing at Mankey.

"Oh how cute!" Jemma squealed. "I wanna hug it!"

"Not right now, Jems," Joey said, who was going very red with embarrassment. Crystal scrunched her eyes shut, trying not to laugh out loud. She heard Joey shout to her, "Are you going to battle or sleep?"

Crystal opened her chocolate-brown eyes, and examined the Mankey again. Her face broke out into a grin. "Ready when you are."

"Fine," Joey said, sounding as if he had already won. "Mankey, fury swipes!"

"Swift!" Crystal instructed her fire-type PokeMon. "C'Mon Quilava, you can do this!"

"Quil!"

"Mankey, mega punch!" Joey yelled.

"Quilava, ember!" Crystal shouted, sounding very much like her mother, when she trained her unique water PokeMon.

Mankey, unable to stop itself, collided with the flames that escaped from Quilava's mouth. When it fell to the ground, it gave a weak "Mank" and fainted; it's once clean face falling to the ground, causing more pain. It was severely burnt.

"Good work Quilava!" Crystal shouted, taking a white square from her side pocket. She unwrapped it, and it turned out to be a Rare Candy. But to Crystal they weren’t rare - she had about twenty in her pocket from all the trainers she had battled. She threw one to the fire PokeMon, who caught it like a dog catching a frisbee, and ate it gratefully.

"Mankey! What happened? You're the best, why did you fail me?" Joey yelled at the hurt PokeMon. "You know what this means."

"Mank," the Mankey said sadly.

"Jemma, take this . . . this disgrace of a Team Rocket PokeMon away from my sight," he said coldly, not looking at the hurt Mankey.

"To where?" She asked, her face full of confusion.

"Abandon it," he muttered, not as quietly as he thought. Crystal had heard what he had said and was outraged.

"You don't just abandon a PokeMon just because it lost!" She protested, her voice full of anger. "You care for it and you train it up."

"This PokeMon failed me!" Joey replied coolly, his eyes flashing. "I have no use for it!"

"Well, I'll trade you it," Crystal said. "I would do anything to get that Mankey and train it up. I'll adopt it."

"Fine, fine," Joey said, not caring. He turned to leave, when Jemma grabbed his arm.

"What about the money you owe her for winning the battle?" Jemma whispered harshly in his ear.

"I don't want any of your dirty money," Crystal spat. "At least I know I'm going to save a PokeMon's life. C'Mon, Devon."

The two siblings left the building, with Crystal in the lead, the fainted Mankey in her arms, she was flared up and Devon quite confused, his eyes scanning his labtop. Jemma headed towards the back door and said, "Aren't you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll catch up," he replied, his eyes glued on the main entrance. "I wonder what Dad will say when he finds out I lost to Ash Ketchum’s daughter."

"Hmm . . . But at least he'll be proud that we captured the Bellsprout Tower under hostage," Jemma said thoughtfully, grabbing her brother and hoisting him out of the room. They walked towards a bush, which actually covered a small wooden door, only big enough for average-sized humans.

"Your fader is gonna throw a skitz," Meowth said. They both jumped, forgetting that they had an old, talking Meowth with them. "I should know . . . I was wid them all those years again."

"Yeah, yeah, heard it before," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "Besides, that girl was kinda . . . well. . . cute."

"Joey!" Jemma yelled, a shocked - but pained - expression on her face. "You're in love with the enemy?"

"I'm not in love with her!" Joey said, embarrassed by all this attention he was getting about him liking a girl.

"Not in love with who?" A cool voice asked behind them. Joey jumped up, nearly stepping on the persons toe, which would have caused much distraught. He turned around to face his mother, Jesse, one of the former Team Rocket Meowth was talking about. "Joey? Not in love with who?"

"Nobody Mum," he said, flushing scarlet. "I'm not in love with anybo-. . ."

Joey would have finished lying to his mother, but Jemma broke into play, her eyes flashing with dislike and hate.

"He's in love with Ash Ketchum's daughter!" She yelled at her mother, causing Jesse to drop the sauce pan she had been drying. "We met her Mum, inside Bellsprout Tower. She beat the pants off him and took his Mankey."

"She did what?!" Jesse cried, throwing the cloth at the kitchen sink. Her aim was incredibly, especially when it came to hitting their father, the one and only, James. "She took your Mankey?"

"And he's in love with her," Jemma put in quickly. "He thinks she's cute."

"Cute?" Jessie echoed, a temple throbbing in her head. They could see she was etchy to hit something, or someone. "Ash Ketchum's daughter? Cute? Mankey?"

"Oh my god," Joey said slowly, examing his mother, who was still saying ‘Cute? Ash Ketchum’s daughter? Cute? Mankey?’. "She's finally lost it."

"Good work," Jemma replied sarcastically. "You sent our mother quackers."

"It wasn't me! You told her about everything!" Joey retorted, flashing his sister a dirty look.

"She deserves to know!" She replied, tossing back her blonde hair, which fell off to reveal scarlet hair, like her mothers. She added in a hurt voice, "I thought you said I was cute."

"I never said that!" Joey said, looking at his sister in a bizarre way. "That. . . that's just sick!"

"How? And why?"

"Never mind," Joey muttered, stamping to his room and slamming the door. He backed against it and slid down, bringing his knees to his face. He looked up, a determined look on his face. "I will make her mine. She will be all mine."

* * *

Okay, yes I do know that Joey sounds like a maniac-killer, but he's NOT (maybe he is, being part of Team Rocket)! Anyway, Crystal has a new PokeMon, Mankey (whoopee!) and Devon has analysed his sisters' moves (and in the best way possible, you filthy little mind you).