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Everything around her was black, but she could make out a faint glimmer in the distance.. She wanted so badly to reach out to it, to escape from where she was, but she couldn't move.. She felt the air flow in and out of her lungs as she breathed, yet when she tried to scream, no sound ever seemed to pass her lips.. she could distinguish no floor or ceiling, nor even where she was, she felt as if she were floating, or maybe falling.. She hardly even could remember who she was anymore.. then she was returned to consciousness by the sobering sound of combat issued boots falling hard against the unforgiving cement floor.. she closed her eyes tight and clenched her fists, curling her body up into as little of a ball as she could.. hoping against hope that there would be no beating today.. Then she heard the all too familiar sound of the cell door being opened; her hands fell limp by her sides and tears formed in her tightly shut eyes; she knew from experience that putting up the least struggle would save her from the most pain..
"Any member of team rocket with half a brain would be wearing their vest in a situation like that" Jessie said.
Butch chuckled to himself: For most of Jessie's years in team rocket there wasn't even anywhere to hide a vest in her uniform, and she wasn't about to ruin her high fashion when the need for one never seemed to come.
James glanced in the rear view mirror at Butch as he spoke, "could you tell me again why you brought her with us?"
Butch didn't bother to respond to James' question, he just sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
He wondered when Raina would wake up.. She hadn't been wounded, but still, a close range shot to a person of relatively small stature such as herself was quite a blow.
Being hit by a bullet on the vest was preferable to having the bullet go through you or lodge in your flesh, but it still hit you hard as hell..
Butch could only liken being shot off guard on the vest to letting Mike Tyson have a free wind-up sucker punch on you..
It's not hard to imagine how fast that would knock the daylights out of a 100 lb girl.
"Don't you think it was a little strange that only those two showed up to come after us?" Meowth asked.
"I mean, they didn't really think two kids with a ripped off motto could actually get us, did they?"
Meowth looked at Butch awaiting a response, but he just continued to stare straight ahead.
Butch didn't know how to answer, he knew Meowth was right..
So Butch just did what he always did.. He hmmed to himself for a moment and rubbed his chin while Meowth eventually just turned away.
Butch looked over at Cassidy. She was staring out the left passenger's window as they drove, not seeming to pay attention to anything going on next to her...
Butch let his eyes fall shut as he thought back to more pleasant times.. When he and Cassidy laughed and cried, or cheered and booed, when they weren't just partners.. they were friends, something it seemed to Butch they would never be again..
Butch opened his eyes as he felt something move on his lap, "get off of me, Meowth.." he said, his mind preoccupied..
"What?" responded a feminine voice.
Butch remembered who he was hearing as he turned his head to see deep green eyes staring back at him.
Butch could see the slight look of worry on her face as she turned her head to view her captors.
Jessie just looked straight back at her, and Butch saw James take quick glances in the rear view mirror as well.
Cassidy, however, seemed thoroughly disinterested in anything taking place inside the van.
"Where are you taking me?" Raina asked nervously turning back to Butch.
Butch tried to reassure her, "we're not taking you anywhere.. when James shot you back there.. I got worried and brought you with us.. I'm sorry.."
"Sorry for what?" Raina asked, raising her eyebrow.
"I'm sorry for you getting shot at, and that it was me you were after." Butch said as he turned towards his passenger window.
Raina thought out her words carefully, "if I'd have known it was you we were supposed to be tailing, I wouldn't have even gone after you.."
"Why not?" Butch asked cautiously.
"... I know what you're thinking," Raina finally said, "you're thinking it's because I've got some sort of crush on you.."
"But you don't.." Butch said still facing towards the passenger window, feeling a little sting in the side of his head at the thought..
"Well.. I didn't say that.. but that's not the reason why I know I shouldn't be trying to kill you.." Raina seemed to stop and think for a moment, "I can feel it.. something much more important.. someone's heart, it's crying out for you.."
Butch looked back at Raina wondering what she could have meant.
"I know that sounds strange.. but I know these things.. and I can feel it.. there's someone out there that desperately needs you.. their life depends on it." Raina clenched her jaw and sighed as she looked at the confused expression on Butch's face.
They didn't utter another word for the rest of the short van ride.
Butch glanced at the moonlit chaparral that seemed to stretch as far as he could see on either side of the desolate old highway as the van approached the small forlorn hotel.
They actually weren't even officially out of the city limits yet, but ever since the strip mining that had been performed her decades before had depleted the land of it's subsistence and habitability the road had only been used by the occasional traveler
It was dark outside, cold too, and everyone was wearing the coats that had been bought that day, but Raina seemed fine enough with just her rather small team rocket uniform..
Butch offered her his jacket, which she accepted, however, the only difference seemed to be that now Butch was freezing whereas Raina never was. Everyone hurried to get checked into the small rooms..
Butch was still wondering what Raina could have meant when she said someone needed him back in the van..
He wondered if maybe she was just setting him up.
Things just weren't fitting together right..
The group had ditched the tracking device speaker last night, and ditched the white team rocket mini van, which had served them for so many years, earlier today.
However, Butch was still confused about how quickly Team rocket managed to locate them in spite of all his effort..
He thought about it all again in his mind.. Billy had removed the speaker that night, and Butch didn't see him attach anything else to the van.. Maybe the speaker wasn't the tracking device, but if it weren't, why would Billy even risk coming to them?
Team Rocket always seemed to be two steps ahead of him.. At the rest area last night, at the mall... they'd even found them at the funeral parlor after the entire van had been abandoned...
He also thought of how strange it was that Raina, who was looking for them, had come to him so quickly at the arcade...
Things just weren't adding up, and Butch sighed audibly as he sat on an uncomfortable and heavily stained motel chair.
"What's wrong?" Raina finally spoke again.
Butch, Raina, Cassidy, and Mondo were all in the same room together.
"Hm... just thinking about the last 24 hours," said Butch not looking up.
Butch and Raina were alone for right now; Cassidy was showering (she takes long showers..) and Mondo had gone out to pick up food for the famished group.
"What are you thinking about?" Raina asked, coming to sit on the bed next to Butch.
"Just about how.." Butch trailed off then asked, "How did you always find us?"
"Simple, we followed the homing device, every team rocket vehicle has one." she answered with a slight smile.
"Yeah.. I know about them... we disconnected it last night though, long before you and Zack had found us.."
Raina just laughed a little bit and said, "apparently not."
Although this annoyed Butch slightly he didn't show it.
"Why is Giovanni trying to kill us?"
"I'm not sure.. all I know is we do what we're told.. isn't that how you've always done it?"
Butch thought about it.. The way Raina had put it made him sound like an automaton, and the more he considered the idea, the more he realized she might be right.
"Maybe we ought to start thinking about what we do.."
"Maybe sometimes.. but sometimes you just have to go with things, because if you thought about them.. you might not..." Raina looked at Butch, seeming to stop in mid sentence.
Butch looked at her delicate features and sighed.
"Do you know anything about the laboratory break-ins?"
Raina seemed to draw back.
"Not much, why?"
"Because last night... a team rocket agent came and told us that the laboratories were where we'd find our answers.."
Raina already knew who Butch was talking about... Billy.
Zack and herself had caught him not long after his tryst with the old team rocket.. after a brief interrogation, she "retired" him herself..
"He wasn't lying to you.." Raina finally answered with her eyes seeming to scan the designs on the carpet.
"What's going on in lab34, Raina.." Butch leaned towards her as he said this.
"I don't know for sure.." Raina said as she stood up walked to the window. "I have to go, Butch..."
"Back to team rocket?" Butch said as he felt his neck tense slightly.
"Yeah.."
"I don't want to have to fight you.." Butch said getting up and walking over to stand behind her.
"Don't worry.. I won't come after you again" Raina said still peering out the window into the darkness.
"What about following orders?"
"You know they kill traitors.." v Butch felt so awkward, standing there talking to her...
"Don't worry about me.. they won't kill me" she replied, and added, "I have to go now.." v "Why now?"
"So I can tell them I escaped and keep them from being suspicious.."
Butch just nodded and laid a hand on her shoulder.
He stumbled back a bit, surprised by her reaction: he hadn't expected her to turn around and hug him.
"Hey, don't look so embarrassed" Raina said smiling as she added, "and please don't tell the others that I'm leaving yet.. they wouldn't understand.."
Butch just nodded as she opened the door. He followed her outside and felt the cold breeze blow against his cheek.
Butch just watched silently as she slipped away into the cold night..
He saw her look back once to make sure he was still watching her. Then she flashed a smile at him and was gone.
Butch stood outside for several minutes longer, thinking, as he often had back in the apple grove at the old team rocket base.. The cool darkness around him was soothing, and the silence was only broken by the sound of the occasional passing car. He thought about many things, but his mind kept wandering back to her.. He also thought again about how close, he and Cassidy had once been, and how they now barely ever spoke. Butch felt a warm tear run down his cheek, and he told himself that it was only the cold breeze..