Attention: Since English is not my mothertongue you might find some spelling mistakes or syntax errors. I apologize in advance. My mothertongue is Swiss-German so I normally imagine a sentence in German and try to translate it as well as possible into English, sometimes there is a lack of vocabulary or I don't find a match or the appropriate idiom but I want to improve my English and become a better writer. Another thing I want to make clear is that I use „..." to introduce direct speech! „ are not commas but the German quotation marks, just to avoid confusion.

Maria's Butler II: Saving Al Capell'

Chapter 1:

Even at mid summer, nights were chilly and breezy. The large prison facility was strictly observed, guardians standing at each entrance of the dark and cold building. They were patrolling with the utmost caution, every single soft sound and creaking made them perk up their ears. The wardens were armed to the teeth, ready to stop any inmate from taking flight. The wind howled through the countless corridors of the uninviting jail, the barred windows clattered and here and there one could hear the outcry of a detainee, desperately hammering against the door of his small cell.

Three figures scurried along the dank walls. They made sure to give the spotlights a wide berth, cowered before the guardians and disappearing in the protective niches
of the stately bastille.

„Jessie, are you sure you want to do this?" James whispered, looking over his shoulder to check whether someone got on to the track of them. The young woman pulled a barrette out of her magenta mane and held it under her partner's nose.

„He promised me an avenue to fame. Are you able to break the lock or not?" Jessie matched him glare for glare. Her team mate bent the hair clip into shape and began to tamper with the lock. „Why don't we ask Meowth to use his claws?" he suggested, the cat-Pokémon sitting on his shoulder and watching each move of his friend.

„Hurry up, James! We don't have a great deal of time," Jessie cajoled him impatiently.
What would happen if they got caught in the act? Would the wardens arrest them, throwing them into a pitch-dark cell with a cup of water and a dry slice of bread? Jessie shook her head. She wouldn't let things go that far.

James managed it to pick the lock and the heavy metal door swung open.
„Ssht," the young woman made it quite clear to her team mates to keep their mouths shut, especially Meowth tended to submit any comments in the most inconvenient moments. With a wave of her hand, Jessie signalled her partners to follow her on tiptoe.
They crept along the vacant prison cells until they reached the end of the unlit corridor.

„There he is," she spoke under breath, pointing at a small chubby man, sitting in the corner of his meagre and temporary home. He sobbed loudly, bobbing back and forth.

‚What a disgraceful sight,' Jessie thought. She placed her fingers around the stanchions.
„Hey!" The man looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. He was a mere shadow of his former self.

„That's how we meet again," Jessie said, her eyes at once gentle and piercing. The convict stood up and trudged to the voice coming from outside his cell. „Who's that?" he asked, the fear in his voice was unmistakable. Jessie harrumphed. He couldn't see her face, only two shiny black boots in the flickering headlights.

„You owe me something, Al Capello," she made a step forward, until the fraudulent director could see her sapphire-blue eyes, one of the reasons he had hired her a year ago. Al Capello's jaw dropped. It was her, his Maria. A talented and aspiring actress, his muse, his source of inspiration. He fell to his knees.

„Miss Jessie. To what do I owe the honour of this visit?" he wanted to know, still shocked by this cloak-and-dagger operation. Jessie smirked, she noticed his subservience. He was depending on her. All his movie projects and the ensuing success hung from her.

„Last year, you promised me to become famous. You promised me glory and wealth, but someone interrupted your brilliant plan. They arrested you before my eyes and thus ruining my only opportunity to access the film business. I demand a reparation!" She flashed at him. Al Capello wrang his hands. „But bella, you see, they put me behind bars! There's no chance to escape," he sobbed pathetically, shrugging his shoulders.

„Don't worry. Here's the deal. We'll get you out of jail, help you to vanish into thin air and in return, I want you to complete the shooting of a new movie that is brought into the cinemas. A blockbuster, drama, heartache, romance and me as your main actress!"
Jessie proposed. Breaking out was an easy matter, not least because of their hard practice during training. Team Rocket had already puzzled out an escape plan. Every thirty minutes, the guards made their rounds.

„We've got 22 minutes left, so either you're going to seed in here all by yourself, or you're going to leverage me. Choose," Jessie stuck to her guns, hoping that Al Capello was chastened by her offer. The chubby man nodded approvingly, pointing at a key ring hanging from a hook on the wall. „It's the blue one, Miss Jessie," he said, convinced of her arguments. James snatched the key, inserted it into the lock and turned it clockwise. The mesh door swung open with a squeak and the alarm was triggered.

Sirens wailed, other inmates cried for help, hoping that Team Rocket would release them too, but the three agents began to rush down the corridor, giving the director a tow. They could hear the guardians coming closer, hurrying down the stone stairs. Al Capello tripped on a half landing, James had to rescue him from breaing his neck.

„Meowth! Where's the hot-air balloon?" Jessie exclaimed, the wardens in hot pursuit of them. The cat-Pokémon fetched a small electrical device and pushed the red button that would prepare their means of transport for departure.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by heavily armed men. The guns and crossbows were aimed at Team Rocket and Al Capello. „Don't move!" one of the custodians threatened grudgingly. The director swallowed hard. They were trapped, no means of escape. That was it. From now on, he would probably share a cell with a diva and her two stooges.

James' hand wandered down to his trouser pocket, where he used to keep his Pokéballs. He reached for one of the balls and pressed the tiny white button, releasing Weezing.

„Weezing! Use Smokescreen to nebulize their view!" the lavender-haired man ordered. Weezing did as he was told and the guardians were immediately wrapped up in a stuffy and malodorus cloud. They puffed and blew, trying to not lose sight of the trio and Al Capello, but Team Rocket wasn't born yesterday, they gripped the unsuccessful director and disappeared with a loud bang.

Al Capello woke up in a balloon basket. He felt dizzy and slightly disoriented. Three faces were staring at him. „So? When's the start of the shooting?" a voice asked. His eyes became small slits. „That's not so easy, Miss Jessie. As you may remember, I don't have a filming permit, neither in Kanto nor in any other region," he confessed, hanging his head in shame.

„WHAT?" Jessie boiled with rage. She clenched her fist. „Does that mean this whole rescue operation was nothing but a waste of time?" she lost her temper. „James!"

Her partner went for the director's throat, heaving him, upside down, out of the hot-air balloon. Al Capello's body was shaking. „Please, wait," he begged imploringly, James pushing him further down. „What do you want?" Jessie asked, arms crossed in front of her chest. „There is a solution," the director was squeaking, afraid that the young man and former actor would let him go.

„James, what do you think? Shall we listen to his ‚solution'?" she wondered, putting the word solution in quotation marks. James shrug his shoulders. He didn't really care about another movie, but he wanted to make every effort to please his team mate.

„As you wish, dear," with a firm pull, James fetched Al Capello back into the basket.
The snugly man sat down, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

„Tell me," Jessie kneeled down, her sugar-sweet voice bewitching the filmmaker.
Al Capello took a deep breath. Her face was so close to his that he could feel her breath on his rosy cheeks. James and Meowth joined her.

„Well, there's one place where I still own a shooting permission," he was cautious, afraid that they would eventually throw him into the infinite depth. He made her sit up.

„And where's that?" she questioned demandingly.

„In Italy."