Chapter 4

It was night time. A man in punk’s clothing was leaning against a wall reading a newspaper in a crowded street. He was reading the news that Black Jack defeated a Rocket Revenger, meaning that the children will have nothing to fear from them anymore. A vain was throbbing in his head as he scrunched up the newspaper. “I’ll show you,” he growled.

The next morning, all of the pupils were going back to the Pokemon School, knowing that they have nothing to worry about the Rocket Revengers anymore.

At break time, Cassandra was put on pokemon care duty. She was feeding, cleaning and caring the pokemon that her class was studying on. Normally, she refused to do it, but after the other night, when a Rocket Revenger named Stalker and his Snaesel beat her Gardevoir, she realised how much her pokemon loved her trainer. That morning, before she arrived at school, she collected her Gardevoir from the pokemon center, only to discover that Gardevoir had a permanent scar on her face.

“If the Rocket Revengers appear in my life again,” she thought to herself. “I mustn’t let them or my fear get to me.”

Suddenly, she heard a lot of her classmates screaming. Then she heard a man’s voice. “Take them outside!” he shouted. She hurried outside to see what was going on. She noticed that people in punk like clothing were holding her classmates hostages. “That kid lover, Black Jack should come be here to save these kids!” said one of the punks. “When he does, boys, we’ll have a little surprise for him and I know that WE will like it! Hehe!”

“Rocket Revengers!” she whispered to herself. She then hurried to another exit but spotted the other Revengers inside the school. She quickly hid herself and then looked around to see if they were still there. When the coast was cleared she hurried to the nearest exit.

As she made her way out unnoticed, the police had already arrived on the scene. A woman in police-clothing grab held of a megaphone and spoke into it.

“Rocket Revengers!” she yelled. “You are all under arrest! Lie down on the floor and place both hands on the back of your heads! Slowly!”

“Forget you!” shouted one of the Revengers in reply. “We’re not going anywhere until we get Black Jack!”

“Why do you want him?” the officer asked.

“None of your business!” The Revenger shouted back. “Just give us Black Jack and we’ll show the whole world why Team Rocket and the Revengers aren’t the teams to be messed around with!”

The officer had no idea what to do next.

“Alright then!” the Revenger shouted. He picked up one of the school children and held a knife near his neck. “If we don’t see Black Jack in ten minutes, I’ll slit the kid’s neck off!”

The officer realised that they had no choice but to get Black Jack. Some of the officers were sent off to look for him.

Meanwhile, Black Jack was walking out of the local tavern finishing off another bottle of beer. “Great,” he thought to himself. “Not a Rocket Revenger to spoil my beer.”

He was about set off on his motorcycle and leave Rustboro City, when a familiar voice was heard. “Black Jack!”

Black Jack turned round and saw Cassandra coming his way. She stopped to breathe quite heavily. “Kid!” Black Jack said. “Why aren’t you at school?”

“The Rocket Revengers,” Cassandra replied while panting. “They’re back!”

“Can’t get enough of me, can they?” Black Jack asked stressfully. “Get on!”

Cassandra hopped on Black Jack’s motorbike and they drove off into the school’s direction.

Back at school, the Rocket Revengers were getting impatient. “Time’s running out!” warned one of the Revengers. The officers hoped and hoped that Black Jack would arrive soon.

“Time’s up!” shouted the Revenger as he was about to slit the child’s throat but was interrupted when a voice was heard. “Hold it right there!”

It was Black Jack and Cassandra driving into the scene. Black Jack immediately stopped his motorcycle as soon as it was in front of one of the police cars. Black Jack and Cassandra walked passed the police cars.

“I’m here now!” Black Jack said. “Leave those kids out of this!”

“Not just yet!” said the Revenger, still holding the child and the knife. “You may have beaten one of our strongest members, Stalker. But you haven’t faced the likes of me yet!”

“And you are?”

“My name is Shadowman! Leader of the Rocket Revengers! And I have a little surprise for you!”

“Let me guess! You’re gonna have you’re cronies gang up on me again? What are you afraid of, Shadowman?”

“I fear nothing! And neither do we! Let’s get em’ boys!”

All of the Rocket Revengers sent out various kinds of pokemon. “I’m guessing that they’re poorly trained,” Black Jack said with criticism.

All of his pokemon popped out their pokeballs, ready for another good battle! “Come on!” shouted Black Jack. His pokemon yelled out their battle cries in response as they and Black Jack charged into battle.

Black Jack was fighting against all the members of the Rocket Revengers. His pokemon were fighting against all the pokemon that were sent out by the Revengers.

While Black Jack was pummelling another member of Revengers, another Revenger was creeping on him with an empty bottle in hand. Suddenly a Spearow dived down and hit him in the back of the head, knocking him out. Black Jack heard the impact and turned round to see a Spearow helping him out, but it wasn’t the only one helping. A scarred Gardevoir, an Absol, a Magneton, a Trapinch, and a Treecko were also helping him. They happen to be Cassandra’s pokemon. Black Jack looked at Cassandra and smiled as he gave a thumb’s up.

Soon, almost all members and pokemon of the Rocket Revengers were knocked out. But there was one more member standing… Shadowman!

“Getting nervous now, Shadowman?” Black Jack arrogantly asked.

“Annoying prick!” Shadowman taunted. “If you’re so tough, why did you get help from your pokemon?”

“I would’ve taken you all down myself. But my pokemon felt that they needed a little exercise, plus they love a good fight when they hear one.”

“You insignificant creep! Battle me! Now!”

“Nah! Not this time!”

“What!”

Black Jack looked at Cassandra with confidents. “Cassandra can battle you instead.”

Cassandra also gave a confident smile. “Thank you, Black Jack,” she replied. Then she gave Shadowman a nasty look.

Shadowman sniggered. “C’mon then!” he sneered. “Let’s make this a one-on-one so I can finish you off quickly.”

“As you wish,” Cassandra replied.

Cassandra sent Gardevoir out to battle. Shadowman laughed out like a maniac. “Go, Sableye!” he shouted as he sent out his pokemon.

“Gardevoir!” Cassandra ordered. “Psychic attack!”

Gardevoir shot out a Psychic blast, but it went passed Sableye.

“What?” Cassandra said in shock. “But why?

“You’re brain is too slow, kid!” Shadowman said. “Didn’t you know Sableye has qualities of both Dark and Ghost pokemon?”

“Cassandra’s at the disadvantage,” thought Black Jack. “Dark and Ghost type pokemon can be tricky for an average Psychic pokemon.”

“Do you still think you can defeat me, you pathetic little girl?” Shadowman taunted. “Admit defeat!”

“No way, Shadowman!” Cassandra replied. “After what you did, I will never surrender to you!”

“There goes that ego again,” Black Jack thought. “But she also needs a little bit of strategy in this one.”

“Now, Sableye!” Shadowman ordered. “Headbutt attack!”

Sableye launched himself and aimed his head at Gardevoir’s scarred face. Sableye was too fast for her to dodge. When she got hit in the face, she staggered backwards holding the scarred part of her face.

Cassandra noticed Gardevoir’s agonising pain on that face and but still had determined look in her eyes.

Throughout the match, Shadowman and his Sableye have been dominating against Cassandra and her Gardevoir, using a lot of underhanded tactics. But even in the jaws of defeat, neither Cassandra nor Gardevoir would quit. Shadowman was getting frustrated.

“Give up, you fool!” Shadowman shouted. “We’re cracking you like eggs!”

“You’d like me to crack, wouldn’t you?” Cassandra replied. “Worked on me before but never again.”

“We’ll see about that!” Shadowman taunted. “Sableye! Finish that brat off with your Faint attack!”

Gardevoir, battered and bruised, stood up. Suddenly her vision became dark and blurry, caused by Sableye’s Faint Attack.

“Gardevoir!” Cassandra yelled. “Foresight now!”

Gardevoir used Foresight to see through the darkness. The next thing she saw was Sableye coming straight at her, she dodged the attack a split second before he reached her.

“What!” Shadowman yelled. “How can this be? Faint attack never misses.”

“Not everything goes by the book,” Black Jack replied with a smirk.

Shadowman snarled. “Sableye! Attack Gardevoir again!”

Sableye jumped to attack Gardevoir.

“Gardevoir! Grab him!” Cassandra ordered.

Gardevoir grabbed him and held him tightly. “This can’t be!” Shadowman shouted in denial. “Sableye’s a ghost pokemon, how the heck did Gardevoir managed to grab him?”

“Gardevoir used Foresight, remember?” Black Jack replied. “Throughout the match, you kept on ordering Sableye to beat Gardevoir while she trying to get up. Not only you are a coward, you are a no-brainer as well.”

“Now, one more attack will finish this thing off!” Cassandra said.

“WHAT?” Shadowman yelled in shock.

“Gardevoir!” Cassandra ordered. “Thunder attack!”

Gardevoir yelled out a cry and the clouds were about to darken.

“No!” Shadowman begged. “Don’t! Wait a minute!”

“Did I hear Shadowman begging?” Black Jack thought to himself while smirking.

Gardevoir screamed even louder and a huge strike of lightning struck down on both of them. The lightning was so bright that everyone had to cover their eyes, except Black Jack who was wearing sunglasses.

After the lightning was gone, everyone looked back at the battle scene. Sableye and Gardevoir were lying on the floor, battered and bruised. Everyone thought that were both knocked out, but Gardevoir slowly picked herself up while Sableye still lay there.

“Looks like we have a winner,” Black Jack said.

Cassandra rushed over to Gardevoir to give her a heart-warming hug. “Gardevoir! You did it!” she cried.

Gardevoir’s body was in pain but she didn’t care, because the only thing that can never be hurt was her spirit and heart.

Shadowman just couldn’t believe it, him, losing to a little girl. “No one has ever beaten me,” he growled. He then looked at Cassandra and her Gardevoir.

“In the name of Team Rocket and the Rocket Revengers…” he snarled. “I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!”

He took out a knife and ran to stab Gardevoir with it, but Cassandra rushed right in front of her to protect her. Just before the knife reached her, a large sole of a boot was coming directly at Shadowman’s face!

It was Black Jack! He performed a jump kick at Shadowman. Shadowman quickly picked himself and desperately tried to run away but was caught by the police.

Shadowman and his cronies were handcuffed and got placed inside police vans. “I’ll get you one day, Black Jack!” he shouted. “Those jail cells won’t keep me in forever, you know!”

“I look forward to it,” Black Jack said to himself in response.

Suddenly a limo came by. A girl just above Cassandra’s height and age came out of the back of the limo. She was wearing dark blue sort of dress. “What’s going one here, Cassandra?” she asked.

“Everything’s okay now, Roxanne,” Cassandra replied. “We finally got rid of the Rocket Revengers.”

“Them again?” Roxanne asked. “Good thing they’re placed behind bars now, eh?”

“Actually, it was you who got rid of those guys,” Black Jack said to Cassandra. “The police and I were just helping out.”

“Ah, Black Jack,” Roxanne said. “The man on his non-stop winning streak. Did you say that Cassandra defeated them?”

“She defeated the leader,” Black Jack replied with a smile. “Just like that,” he continued while snapping his fingers.

“I’m impressed,” Roxanne said. “And I apologise for being away for so long.”

“What do you do anyway?” Black Jack asked.

“I’m the gym leader of the Rustboro City Gym. I have been away a lot recently on business.”

“So if you’re away a lot, who’s been taking over?”

Roxanne looked at Cassandra. “No one,” she replied. “But after what Cassandra has done, I’m placing her as vice-gym leader.”

Cassandra became excited about this opportunity. “Roxanne, thank you.”

Black Jack smiled as he checked his watch. “Well, looks like I’ll be off then,” he said. “It was fun while it lasted.”

He was about to take off on his motorcycle but Cassandra stopped him. “Hey! Wait!”

Black Jack turned to Cassandra’s attention. “How about you battle me for the badge?” she asked.

“Now?” Black Jack asked in replied.

“We haven’t finished our match yet. And if you beat me, I’ll give you the badge.”

Black Jack knew about the rules of entering the Hoenn League. In order to enter, he must defeat eight gym leaders and claim their badges. In the past, he already won a few badges here and there, although that’s what he claimed.

“Alright then,” Black Jack replied with a nasty smile. “I accept.”