|
|
Chapter 1
James, Ash, Misty, and Brock all piled into one of Team Rockets SUVs that was located in the basement of the loft. James had activated the opening for it, and the floor slanted, allowing them to drive up onto the ground. They were all dressed in black (even pikachu) with their weapons and were ready to go. James told them that he did not have his license so they should buckle up if they didn't want to be affected by the turbulence. He drove very fast. They held on tight.
Soon after Butch had called, they all decided it was about time that they go rescue James's friends. With much concern for James, though, they argued with him regarding his wellbeing. He insisted that he was perfectly fine and could do just as competently as he would if he wasn't bruised and sore. He also asserted that Jessie and Meowth needed him and couldn't wait another day. Ash and Brock did not want to stall but they were worried that James was not up to the challenge. Misty, likewise, shared the same sentiments but she did so, not only because she was worried for James, but also because she was worried for Ash, Brock, and herself. James figured as much, but he thought that knowing she is good with a gun would make her more confident in this endeavor.
When they got to Team Rocket Headquarters, it was well into the night. They parked away from the building, near the forest, nicely hiding the SUV from any view. They jumped out of the vehicle and cautiously snuck through the surrounding trees till they came upon the back entrance. There was an open field between them and their destination. Even though it was very dark, spotlights from the top of the headquarters circled around the opened field and guards on the top towers surveyed all. And they had to pass them to get to the entrance.
"We're going to have to be very quick to get there," James said. He had been watching the spotlights for some time to see if they had a rhythm or if they were just sporadic. It seemed that they circled around every half-minute.
The trio nodded affirmatively.
"On my lead…" said James. He waited a moment then uttered: "go!"
They ran for it. The distance was a bit more than they had anticipated, but they were swift and they made it across without any problem. They all leaned against the building wall; none of them were in front of the door, for there was a video camera looking directly down at the spot. James took out his gun that had a silencer on it and tilted it upward to fire at the cable connected to the camera.
"Wait," Ash said.
James turned around. "What is it?"
"Pikachu can short it out," he said, "this way we won't have to worry about getting rid of other cameras."
"But the security might find out," Brock said.
"True…" James said with consideration. "But as I know it, the security isn't always paramount-have Pikachu short it out. We'll take our chances."
"Right," Ash said; "Go Pikachu…just short it out, don't use too much voltage."
Pikachu jump from Ash onto James's shoulder then up on the door. "Pika-chu!" he whispered. Electric bits flung from the cables as the camera died out. Pikachu jumped back on to Ash.
James took out his clearance card and unlocked the door. They went in. In a few seconds they were descending. James, Brock, and Ash were pretty fired up and ready for battle. But Misty even though she tried to appear the same, felt scared. Little did she know everyone else felt the same as well.
As the elevator was gaining the lower level, everyone clutched their weapons, ready for any unexpected encounter, as they stood away from the doors. The elevator stopped and the doors opened. No one was there. James poked his head out to make sure the coast was clear, looking left and right. He signaled them to come out.
"Ash and Misty," he said, "you both go left." They had already decided ahead of time that they would split up to search for Jessie and Meowth. James had provided them with communicators and trackers so that they will know where each other was. "Brock," he continued, "you take the right and I'll go center." They all nodded affirmatively. "Keep on your guard and be careful."
They all went off.
James worried for his new friends and hoped that he taught them well on how to use the guns. He hoped Ash would aim well and that they would not forget how to load their weapons. He hoped Misty wouldn't freeze up if she were confronted with an adversary. James desperately wanted to find Jessie and Meowth. He really hoped that Jessie had not been tortured and Meowth was keeping her from worrying. He wanted to meet with Giovanni so he could put a bullet through his head. He was so angry, scared, hopeful, resentful, all at the same time. His emotions were getting the best of him; and as he ran down the hallway tears were flying from his eyes, though he desperately tried to hold them in.
"The cameras are offline again," one of them said.
"Agh, how irritating," the other said eating a donut.
"Aren't we going to do something about it?"
"Why bother, they'll just go off again."
Chapter 2
Brock ran through the hall. At every door he stopped and took out a clearance card. James had given them each one as well. He opened the door and looked inside. It was a simple unoccupied lab room except for some caged pokémon. They looked very sick as though something was terribly wrong with them. He didn't like to see pokémon caged up like this, but he knew he couldn't afford to release any of them. He looked in closer but Meowth wasn't there. With conflicting sentiments, he forced himself closed the door and then went on.
Cassidy was quickly trying to duplicate the formula. Like Butch had said to his conspirator, she had given four of their pokémon the serum; they were already transmuted. But it would be another thirty minutes to an hour before the transformation would be complete. She was stressing out, fumbling with the chemicals as she tried to pour them into a flask. There was a chance they would be caught, then what would happen to them.
"I don't know about this Butch."
"Come on…it's the perfect thing."
"But if we get caught?"
"That would never happen…"
Damn it Butch! If we are found out, Giovanni will severely punish us, maybe even kill us.
Brock was looking around another lab room, which contained many sick pokémon. He searched each cage for Meowth.
"Damn it!"
"Who's that?" Brock said, looking up from what he was doing. He followed the voice he had heard, walking behind some huge machines. It was Cassidy. It seems as though she had dropped some chemicals.
"She has to know where Jessie and Meowth are," he uttered.
She was now peaking out from behind the machine (she knew she could not be seen because she was cover with shadow). Butch? What's he up to? He had not turned on the light and only relied on the light from the hallway. He looked around the desk area near the door: smoothed over papers and what not. He picked something up that Jessie could not decipher and put it in his pocket. He opened the desk draw and took out a semiautomatic. He checked to see if the clip was full, then places it in the back of his uniform and went out the room, shutting the door.
I wonder what he's about to do. Jessie got up from her hiding place. She walked around the communicative apparatus, guided by the wall. Once getting to the door, she turned on the light. She looked around the desk for anything that would give her a clue as to what Butch was about. She could find nothing on top so she opened the drawer that Butch had gotten his gun from. Inside were four pokéballs. "Pokémon? These can't be his. He wouldn't leave them in here like this, especially with those experiments. I wonder…" She took one of the balls and commanded the pokémon to come out. The ball released a red light and formed into an Arbok.
"Chaaar-bok," it said.
"Arbok!" she exclaimed, glad to see it. It was just as glad to see her. She looked at the other pokéballs. "Maybe the rest is James's and mine." She opened them and sure enough Weezing, Lickitung, and Victreebel appeared. They were all happy to see her, although, Weezing and Victreebel asked where James was at. She had nothing else to tell them but that they would see him soon. I hope. She recalled them all back to their pokéballs and put them away. A thought occurred to her and she was thankful that Butch and Cassidy hadn't used their pokémon in their experiment.
Chapter 3
Elsewhere, Ash and Misty were lurking around a room filled with pokémon. They could not find Jessie or Meowth at all. They wondered if Brock and James had such difficulty in looking for Jessie and the cat pokémon. Misty became wary of all this and wished they could be done with it all. To keep things on the up and up Ash remarked that if Team Rocket had so much pokémon why would they be insistent in taking his Pikachu. She giggled a bit but then with annoyance, she told him that it was because they were forever greedy.
Coming out of the room, Ash and Misty cautiously looked around to make sure no one was coming. They went off to turn a corner but witnessed two Rockets standing around. They jerked themselves back behind the corner.
"You think they saw us?" Ash whispered.
"I don't know," Misty murmured back.
They listened for anything that would indicate that they were found out, but they heard nothing. Ash whispered for her and him to get away from here. As they attempted, Misty was pulled back. She made a little noise that alerted Ash. He turned to her. One of the Rockets held her by her collar.
"Hey, let her go," Ash said.
"How the hell did you get in here?" the Rocket said, not letting go of her. Misty struggled to get free. Another Rocket came from behind the corner, and she was commanded to apprehend Ash.
Forgetting he had a gun at his side, he yelled: "Pikachu, thundershock!"
The Rocket was electrocuted. Pikachu then hopped over to the other Rocket. Frightened that he would fall the same fate as his friend, he let Misty go. She ran over to Ash. The Rocket took out his communicator and uttered some inaudible commands. He then took out his gun.
"Let's get out of here!" Ash yelled as he grabbed Misty and bolted. Pikachu followed suit.
The Rocket shot three times, but was too late for they had scurried around a corner and out of sight.
"He shot at us," said Misty completely surprised.
"Yea, that's what he's paid to do."
"But he shot at us! We could have been killed!" she said hysterically.
"Next time we'll fire back," Ash said still pulling her along. He was more worried that this wasn't going to be over so soon. If that Rocket radioed for assistance then they are soon to be confronted by more underlings. Ash looked around to see if there was any place they could hide. But his searching was interrupted when three Rockets impeded them.
"Hold it right there!"
Ash grabbed his gun. They grabbed theirs. It would be convenient if he could call forth Pikachu, but he didn't want his pokémon to get shot.
"Don't even try it!" one of the Rockets said.
From behind Ash and Misty, appeared the other two Rockets they had encountered.
"Put down your weapons!"
"We have you surrounded!"
Ash had no choice. He couldn't risk it. Misty was totally unreliable. She was quivering in fear and he knew she could not be counted on even if he did come up with a plan. He put down his gun. Pikachu looked at him fearfully.
Chapter 4
Jessie cracked the door open, looking up and down the hallway. No one was around. She listened for a good minute or so. She could hear nothing. She remembered that she had came from the left to get to this office, so she went out proceeding to the right. There weren't any labs nearby, only just a room with toxic chemicals. She did not even bother to enter it. She went on.
Coming upon a corner, she heard footsteps and quickly ceased her pace. She leaned against the wall, reaching for her gun, when she realized the footsteps too had stopped. She peered out slowly. No one was there. Perhaps they went into the lab. (She noticed a door in the middle of the hallway.) She ducked back behind the corner and waited. She didn't hear anything. So, she turned the corner and proceeded forth. Midway in the hall she heard footsteps approaching again, from ahead of her. She was about to run back to where she had came, but then she heard another set of footsteps approaching from there. She freaked. The footsteps were getting closer. Her heart raced. Something grabbed her; she couldn't scream, nor was she able as she was devoured into darkness.
All she could hear was the beating of two hearts. She looked ahead of her. Two Rockets met at the lab and entered it. The door closed.
"Jess…"
Her eyes widened. She was free from its grasp. She slowly turned around.
"Jessie, are you okay?"
Damn the darkness, she could hardly see but for slight highlights.
"J-James?"
"Yes, it's me."
She jumped into his arms and unable to contain herself she cried. "Oh James, I missed you so much."
"I missed you too," said he holding her tight, teary eyed. They held each other tightly for a good, long moment.
"I thought I would never see you again."
"What? You didn't think I'd come for you?" he joked.
She blushed, remembering her doubts. "I'm just glad you're here."
James was ecstatic to hear that. He giggled in silliness.
She laughed at his giddiness.
When his giggles subsided, he noticed Meowth was not with her and asked her where he was.
"I don't know," she said as the smile left her face. Why ruin such a lovely moment with the reminder of that cat and their troubles. "He was never with me-I think they did an experiment on him."
"What?"
"Butch and Cassidy are plotting against Giovanni-they made a drug that makes pokémon stronger."
He looked at her with confusion. "What the hell is going on?"
She explained all from the beginning. She told him everything that has happened to her and what she found at the lab, about the silhouette picture of a meowth, the antidote she stole, and so forth. She showed him the notepad she had taken, but he could not read it in the darkness. They stepped out into the hallway so he could get a glimpse. He read. It was a lot to take in and his face did weird expressions as he read. When he finished he gave it back to her.
"We have to tell the others."
"Who?" she asked obliviously.
"Brock, Ash, and Misty."
"What have they got to do with this?" she said in annoyance, completely forgetting that she ought to be grateful for their assistance when they were attack the day before yesterday.
"They've been helping me," James said offended by her tone, "they're here right n-" He pushed her back into the passage.
"What's the-"
He covered her mouth and looked towards the lab door. She followed his gaze. A Rocket member came out and walked away.
"We've got to find Meowth," James said. A beep sounded. James took his communicator from his pocket and pressed a button.
"James, are you there?" It was Brock.
"Yeah."
"I've got Cassidy: she claims to not know where Meowth or Jessie is."
"I have Jessie with me," James said, "but she has to know where Meowth is." James thought for a second. "Stay where you are… we'll be right there."
"So you weren't kidding," Jessie said, surprised that he was indeed in cahoots with Ash and company.
"Yea, they really helped me when I needed it," James said, utterly obliged to them as he put away his communicator. He took out his tracker and walked slowly to the edge of the passage, careful to listen to his surroundings. He held his high-tech rifle over his shoulder.
Jessie stared at him. She had not noticed that he had a gun before. And what was odd was that he never did like holding them, but he held this one with certain elegance, though something wasn't right. He grimaced as if he was in pain. I wonder if he's okay. He did get beaten pretty badly the other day. She was about to ask him but he spoke before her.
"Tell me again," began James, "how do we fit into Butch and Cassidy's plan?"
"We're just a diversion."
"Yea…but why us?"
"That, you'll have to ask them."
"I figured as much, but…" he said sinisterly cocking his gun, "I'll ask really nicely."
Chapter 5
Ash's face was sore. It had hit the floor when the Rockets threw him and Misty into Giovanni's office. He looked over at her. She was rubbing her head as she tried to stand up. Ash helped her.
"Pika! Pikachuuu-pi-pika-chuuu!" Pikachu said angrily. They had caged him and his electricity could not be used to aid them.
"Where's James?" Giovanni asked.
"We don't know!" Ash said crossly.
"I doubt that," he said intensely irritated. "You think you can screw around with Team Rocket and them sneak around my base as if you own it! Well I won't have a bunch of kids taking me down!"
"What are you talking about?" Ash said peeved. "I don't care two craps about Team Rocket!"
What is Ash doing? Is he trying to get us killed? Misty looked at him. She wanted to tell him to shut up, but was too scared to say anything.
"Then why are you here?" Giovanni asked heatedly.
Ash couldn't really answer. Anything he says can put James and Brock in jeopardy. He didn't know what to say. What am I going to do?
Unfortunately, it wasn't up to Ash to say or do anything. His communicator gave him away. He wished immensely that the thing had been broken.
"What's this?" Giovanni asked. "Search them!"
The Rockets did as they were told and came up with communicators and trackers. They gave them to Giovanni. He pressed the button of one of them.
"Ash, Misty, I found Cassidy-James found Jessie," Brock said, "and they're on there way here…you two should come as soon as possible…Ash…are you there? Ash? Misty? Hello?"
Giovanni clicked it off. "So you say you don't know what I was talking about?"
"It's not what you think," Ash said, "we were helping James out because you had Butch and Cassidy attack them!"
"They attacked us too," Misty finally said, "if they hadn't bothered us, we'd probably not be here! You know, James could have died!"
"Death to all traitors!"
"You've got it all wrong!"
"I already know that he's been conspiring with you to bring down Team Rocket."
"What!" Misty exclaimed.
"Conspiring…with us?" Ash said with a chuckle. "That's absurd-him and Jessie practically hated us!" He burst out laughing. Misty couldn't contain her laughter either.
Giovanni felt stupid. He didn't like being laughed at. "We'll see how funny you think this is?" He took out a gun.
Their laughter ceased as their eyes widened.
Chapter 6
Brock was getting tired of hold Cassidy at gunpoint: this was not him. He's a sweet, peace loving pokémon breeder. He would never in his wildest dreams imagine holding a gun up to someone, especially a girl. All that felt so wrong he knew was right for now. But still it bothered him profusely.
He wondered why Ash and Misty had not answered him. He hoped that they were okay. However, he was unable to go in-depth with his thoughts because Cassidy interrupted him. She tried to make conversation, in attempts to distract him and take his gun. He knew better and tried to use her attempts to figure out what's going on.
She endeavored to entice him with the fact that she came up with a formula that makes pokémon stronger. She hoped he would be willing to let her go if she promised to give him some formula for his pokémon in exchange. "You could win every pokémon league battle." He was surprised but when she explained it further he realized the folly in it. She thought such a thing would interest him but he was so against it.
It didn't matter anyway. She had done her best to distract him from his surroundings. And Butch congratulated her with a kiss.
"You can really talk when you want to," he said holding his gun up as he looked at Brock lying on the floor with a bruise at the back of his neck.
"Well he was certainly a bore," she said taking up Brock's gun. "So I guess James is here."
"Yep," said he, gaining his serious appearance. "We don't have much time-have you succeeded in duplicating the serum?"
"Yes, but…it's not as much as I would hope."
Butch looked at the lab desk with spilt liquid and broken flagons. "You have the formula on disk?"
"Yes," said she, "of course."
"That will have to suffice for now."
"Let's just go," said she, "I don't think they're going to be moving anytime soon."
"We'll have to fight them…I don't want to have to kill…least not yet."
"James you are such a wuss-let's go already," she said piqued.
"Watch it Jess!" he retorted irately, glaring at her.
She backed away shocked by his newfound backbone.
James continued to watch. The Rockets were leaving the area. He whispered to her what was happening. He waited a little bit longer. When they were out of sight and he no longer heard their footsteps, he signaled her to follow him. They had almost gained their destination, when a Rocket came out of a lab room. He had not noticed them yet, as his attention was focused on a report he was reading. James passed by the person casually with Jessie by his side. They both breathed a sigh of relief when they were inches away from their destination. However, another Rocket turned the corner, approaching them. He looked at Jessie and remembered she had beaten him with a mop. He had a bandage on his head and she immediately recognized him.
He pulled out a gun. "Stop them!" he yelled to the other Rocket.
"Shit!"
James grabbed Jessie and ran. They shied the bullets. James jerked his partner as they turned into the passage. Her shoulder hit against the wall and she fell down. James snatched her up. He took out his gun, leaning against the wall. He heard silent footsteps approaching, but only from the upper end of the hallway. He thought as much. The Rocket who was reading his report didn't have any weapons on his belt. James quickly glanced out of the passage and the back. Two bullets hit the wall opposite him. He put his gun out and fired back three shot, then drew back. Three shots retaliated.
"Jess…open the door," he whispered.
She nodded as she clutched her shoulder.
James continued to exchange fire with his foe.
"The door's open," Jessie whispered.
James shot again. No shots were fired back. But James was disinterested as he followed Jessie. As they got into the secluded hallway, James asked her if she was all right.
"I'm fine!" she said irately.
They walked on.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pull you like that."
"Yea, I know," she said rubbing her arm. "Oh! I almost forgot!"
"What?"
"I got your pokémon," she said taking them out.
"Oh! Thanks!" James said ecstatically, giving her a hug; "I was worried I would never see them again."
When they got to the lab, they heard voices. One was horsy and the other was normal. They didn't hear Brock. James and Jessie looked at each other. This was definitely bad. They crept up behind the huge machines. They could see Butch and Cassidy. Brock was on the ground, but he wasn't unconscious.
"You have the formula on disk?"
"Yes," said she, "of course."
"That will have to suffice for now."
James was about to reveal himself, but Jessie grabbed him by the wrist. He looked back at her.
"We can't just go out there," she whispered."
"Why not?" he murmured.
"Our motto…"
"Oh, I almost forgot," James whispered, with a sweat drop.