Chapter 13: The Confrontation
Jesse stopped in her tracks and glaring angrily at her rival. Memories of how much pain and suffering Meowth had been in flashed before her eyes. But a fight would draw attention to them. Jesse knew she would have to try and stay calm. James was still clinging to her arm and was shaking badly.
"Get out of my way Cassidy" Jesse hissed "I am taking him out of here and you can't stop me"
"You know you're problem Jess?" Cassidy sneered "You always assume the worst in people"
"In you're case I think its justified" Jesse snapped. "You could have killed Meowth"
"I think you two better sit down" Butch spoke up for the first time.
"I'm not taking orders from you" Jesse replied.
"You see this" Butch held up a communicator "I press one button and Giovanni will be down here with at least 10 of his henchmen"
Jesse knew she was beaten. She nodded slightly at James before sitting down. He sat next to her practically leaning on her shoulder. His breathing was too ragged and the breaths he managed to take easily were too sharp and painful for Jesse's liking. He needed a doctor and fast.
Butch and Cassidy were watching Jesse to see what she did next. Jesse ignored them and put an arm round her partner holding him close to her. "It'll be ok" she whispered "I'm not going to let any one hurt you again I promise"
Jesse then turned to Butch and Cassidy "He's in a bad way. Let me take him out of this place"
"I don't know if we can do that," Butch said. "Giovanni would be pretty mad with us to say the least if we let you go"
"Look" Jesse started but Cassidy held up a hand to quieten her.
"We want to know exactly what is going on. Why is he sick?" she asked.
"The future sight has a curse," Jesse said softly. "Too many viewings can cause this to happen. He needs to get help or at least to rest. If Giovanni gets hold of James again then…"
"We can call for Lillian" Cassidy said after considering what Jesse was saying.
"No I need to get James out of here" Jesse protested. "He'll die! Cassidy please I'm begging you"
"You're begging me?" Cassidy smiled slyly this was getting more and more interesting. "Just how much is you're partner worth to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"If we help you what is in it for us?"
"I can't believe you!" Jesse shouted. "You hope to gain some thing out of James' suffering?"
Cassidy laughed "You don't get something for nothing in this world Jess. So how much is he worth to you?"
"What do you want?"
"Well let me think…Giovanni would kill us if he knew so I should think a fair bit"
"We've got money," Jesse said quickly. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a couple of £20's. "Take this as a deposit. I'll pay you more when we get out"
"How much is there?" Butch wanted to know.
"Butch shut up!" Cassidy shouted. "I thought as much," she added talking to Jesse now. "You'd do any thing for him wouldn't you?"
"Yes" Jesse replied without hesitation.
Cassidy smiled slightly. "I thought so" then she took the money still clutched in Jesse's hand.
"You'll help me?"
"Yeah" Cassidy said rolling her eyes "But we'd better hurry before Giovanni gets back".
Jesse turned back to James who all this time had listened silently clinging to his best friend. "Come on we're getting out of here," she said softly. James nodded and with renewed determination he managed to stand on his own. Jesse held onto him as they made their way up and out of the basement.
"Meowth I really don't think we should get involved" Mondo protested lamely. Meowth had wasted no time in forming a plan to help Jesse and James escape the HQ. "Dis is da only way dat we can without getting dem in more trouble" he snapped at the boy. Mondo hung his head and kicked at a few stones on the ground. Once they had got to Viridian City they had learnt that it was completely over run by Team Rocket as was the rest of Kanto. But this was an advantage as it meant that they fitted in better.
"Look" Meowth explained "If we disable da power den Giovanni will be preoccupied and dat will provide a distraction dat Jess will need. Yous do want ta help her don't yous?"
"Of course I do" Mondo said a little bit hurt that Meowth could think otherwise. "But what if Giovanni realises that it is a distraction?"
Meowth knew what Mondo was saying but he couldn't do nothing. Jesse and James were his best friends and he had to help them. Jesse had stayed with him even when she knew that he had betrayed James to Butch and Cassidy. Mondo's faith in Jesse's ability to get James out was unshakeable but Meowth was more pessimistic. Giovanni always got what he wanted and if Jesse stood in his way then she would die. Meowth desperately wanted to help. He felt he owed it to James. The thought of loosing his friends left him with an aching pain in his heart that refused to go away. But Meowth was tough, like Jesse. He would not show any weakness in front of Mondo. The boy needed him to be strong. If Meowth cracked up then Mondo would too and right now Mondo was also terrified of his idols being hurt or worse…Meowth shook his head to clear his head of these thoughts.
"I'm sorry Mondo. I know yous care for dem. Dey are da family dat yous never had."
"You care for them too" Mondo bit his lip to stop himself from crying. "We have to do this"
Getting the power box outside the HQ was going to be harder than they thought. Originally Mondo was going to distract the man guarding it whilst Meowth disabled the power. He had seen Giovanni enter the code to switch it off when he had been top cat and had memorised it for future note. But there was one problem. The box was off the ground. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but Meowth could not jump very well with his leg and was having trouble walking as it was.
"What are we going to do?" Meowth said.
Mondo looked thoughtful for a minute and then said. "I'll use Ditto to help us"
"What can he do?" Meowth asked at Mondo released the transform pokemon. Ditto was strong, as Meowth had seen when it battled Jesse's Arbok a little over a year ago. Arbok had beaten Ditto but the little pink Pokemon had been a tough opponent. "Ditto transform into a Meowth" Mondo commanded. With a flash of light Meowth saw a perfect copy of himself standing before him.
"Ditto. We need you to go with Meowth to disable the power. He'll tell you what to do ok?"
"Meowth" Ditto replied nodding its head.
Meowth and Ditto hid in the bushes whilst Mondo hurried up to the guard.
"We need you're help in the gym" Mondo said to him. "There's some Pokemon trainers that escaped from Saffron. They are trying to start a fight in there"
The guard had heard of Giovanni's present bad mood and nodded before racing off Mondo behind him. "Ok den" Meowth said to Ditto as they hurried towards the power box. It consisted of a fenced off area with a metal pole in it. At the top of the pole was the metal box that contained the security system for over riding the power for the HQ. Most people who walked by it thought it supplied electricity for the gym and in a sense it did. Part of the electricity was channelled to the Viridian City gym. The box could be opened by hand and if you pressed in the right code on the control panel then the power supply would be shut off. Giovanni was the only one who knew what the code was except for Meowth. Ditto looked at him questionably when they paused by the pole. "Yous hafta climb up dare and press in da code. It is 234JKB5"
"Meowth?"
"What yous don't know how ta read?" Meowth sighed. "Ok den watch dis" he grabbed a twig up from the ground and wrote the numbers and letters out in the dust. "Dey look like dis. Do ya tink yous can do it now?"
Ditto nodded and climbed up the pole. Minutes went by and Meowth was beginning to worry when he heard the automatic click that signalled that the power had been shut down.
Meowth and Ditto hurried to the spot where they had arranged to meet with Mondo. They had done all they could do. The rest was up to Jesse. All they could do was wait.
"What is going on?" Giovanni shouted angrily. His office had just been enveloped in complete darkness. Dawn came in holding a candle. She set it down on the edge of desk. "The power has been shut down sir" she stated.
"What? No one has authorisation to do this…" Giovanni broke off. He remembered Meowth seeing the code he put in. If Meowth was here then that meant Jesse was also here some where. The cat had unintentionally let Giovanni know that they were coming ultimately giving him the advantage.
"The guard said that some rocket boy told him of fighting in the gym but when he got there, there was no fighting sir" Dawn continued.
"Mondo" Giovanni said more to himself than Dawn. "He would do any thing for those three"
"Do you want me to organise a search of the building sir?"
"No Dawn. I think I know where they will be heading. I want you to call Butch and Cassidy on their communicator. No one is to go down to that prison. If Jesse or Meowth show up I want them brought straight to me"
"Yes sir"
Giovanni waited until Dawn had gone before smiling to himself. He was well aware that Butch and Cassidy had helped James escape. He had been informed minutes before the power went out. This was a game to him. Cassidy at least he knew would sell off even her own partner to save her neck. James could, as Giovanni discovered, be manipulated by words and Jesse loved James and so would do any thing to save him. Butch was the same as Cassidy. Giovanni didn't want to loose Butch and Cassidy. They were competent agents most of the time but they could be replaced. James he needed alive at all costs for his plan to succeed but maybe he could use him to teach Jesse never to cross him. Jesse and Meowth would be killed; Mondo was a different matter. The kid was bright and Giovanni had high hopes for him at first. But the kid also possessed James' innocence. Well Giovanni didn't need to decide this minute. He would bide his time for now. Jesse knew that there was no way out of the HQ and could wait. Giovanni needed the power back on. If he went after them now then the chances were that they would escape. Giovanni couldn't allow that to happen. The power cut gave them the advantage for now but it would not last. Even with the power down leaving the HQ would be almost impossible. Jesse and her friends would just walk into his hands sooner or later….
"We have to keep going" Cassidy said impatiently putting her hands on her hips and staring down at Jesse and James. Butch was keeping look out and seemed as tense and nervous as Cassidy was especially as the power had gone out minutes before. This gave them an advantage for now as most of the agents in the HQ would go out to fix the problem but that would not last.
"He's trying his best" Jesse snapped gesturing to James who was leaning back against the wall taking a few minutes rest. "What if we're discovered?" Cassidy demanded "Its ok for him. Giovanni needs him. We're all expendable"
"Shut your mouth Cassidy" Jesse growled and turned back to James "Is it bad again?"
James smiled weakly "Just tired". It was true that just standing was tiring but the pain in his head had refused to go away. James didn't want Jesse to know this. He still felt as through he would die. Every time he attempted to view some thing the pain came on and there was nothing. Jesse was unaware of this and hardly noticed when his grip on her arm grew tighter with every jolt of pain shooting through his exhausted mind. "We have to keep moving" Jesse said gently tugging at his arm. James nodded and with his friends help he was able to take a few steps before collapsing against her completely. Jesse's leg nearly buckled under his weight but she resolved not to let James know this. She had thought she could take the weight seeing he had lost so much of it over the past week but now it was beginning to take its toll. I don't know if I can keep going she thought in panic. Cassidy seemed to sense this as she said "Butch go and help her or we'll never get out of here"
Butch shot Cassidy a look before grabbing hold of James' other arm. "Come on James lean on me as well"
"Thanks Botch" James said smiling slightly when he saw the scowl on the others face at the use of the nickname. For James the next ten minutes passed by in a haze. He couldn't believe how determined Jesse was to help him. Of course their friendship was the most important thing in the world to James too but back in the prison he had got the feeling that Jesse wanted to tell him some thing else. But there was no way that Jesse felt the way he did. Jesse was a strong young woman just like her mother; she deserved some one better than him. Because of James they could all be caught and killed. Maybe every one was right about him. He was a worthless do nothing. James had never wanted to believe this but now he knew it to be true.
Jesse stopped in her tracks and glaring angrily at her rival. Memories of how much pain and suffering Meowth had been in flashed before her eyes. But a fight would draw attention to them. Jesse knew she would have to try and stay calm. James was still clinging to her arm and was shaking badly.
"Get out of my way Cassidy" Jesse hissed "I am taking him out of here and you can't stop me"
"You know you're problem Jess?" Cassidy sneered "You always assume the worst in people"
"In you're case I think its justified" Jesse snapped. "You could have killed Meowth"
"I think you two better sit down" Butch spoke up for the first time.
"I'm not taking orders from you" Jesse replied.
"You see this" Butch held up a communicator "I press one button and Giovanni will be down here with at least 10 of his henchmen"
Jesse knew she was beaten. She nodded slightly at James before sitting down. He sat next to her practically leaning on her shoulder. His breathing was too ragged and the breaths he managed to take easily were too sharp and painful for Jesse's liking. He needed a doctor and fast.
Butch and Cassidy were watching Jesse to see what she did next. Jesse ignored them and put an arm round her partner holding him close to her. "It'll be ok" she whispered "I'm not going to let any one hurt you again I promise"
Jesse then turned to Butch and Cassidy "He's in a bad way. Let me take him out of this place"
"I don't know if we can do that," Butch said. "Giovanni would be pretty mad with us to say the least if we let you go"
"Look" Jesse started but Cassidy held up a hand to quieten her.
"We want to know exactly what is going on. Why is he sick?" she asked.
"The future sight has a curse," Jesse said softly. "Too many viewings can cause this to happen. He needs to get help or at least to rest. If Giovanni gets hold of James again then…"
"We can call for Lillian" Cassidy said after considering what Jesse was saying.
"No I need to get James out of here" Jesse protested. "He'll die! Cassidy please I'm begging you"
"You're begging me?" Cassidy smiled slyly this was getting more and more interesting. "Just how much is you're partner worth to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"If we help you what is in it for us?"
"I can't believe you!" Jesse shouted. "You hope to gain some thing out of James' suffering?"
Cassidy laughed "You don't get something for nothing in this world Jess. So how much is he worth to you?"
"What do you want?"
"Well let me think…Giovanni would kill us if he knew so I should think a fair bit"
"We've got money," Jesse said quickly. She dug in her pocket and pulled out a couple of £20's. "Take this as a deposit. I'll pay you more when we get out"
"How much is there?" Butch wanted to know.
"Butch shut up!" Cassidy shouted. "I thought as much," she added talking to Jesse now. "You'd do any thing for him wouldn't you?"
"Yes" Jesse replied without hesitation.
Cassidy smiled slightly. "I thought so" then she took the money still clutched in Jesse's hand.
"You'll help me?"
"Yeah" Cassidy said rolling her eyes "But we'd better hurry before Giovanni gets back".
Jesse turned back to James who all this time had listened silently clinging to his best friend. "Come on we're getting out of here," she said softly. James nodded and with renewed determination he managed to stand on his own. Jesse held onto him as they made their way up and out of the basement.
"Meowth I really don't think we should get involved" Mondo protested lamely. Meowth had wasted no time in forming a plan to help Jesse and James escape the HQ. "Dis is da only way dat we can without getting dem in more trouble" he snapped at the boy. Mondo hung his head and kicked at a few stones on the ground. Once they had got to Viridian City they had learnt that it was completely over run by Team Rocket as was the rest of Kanto. But this was an advantage as it meant that they fitted in better.
"Look" Meowth explained "If we disable da power den Giovanni will be preoccupied and dat will provide a distraction dat Jess will need. Yous do want ta help her don't yous?"
"Of course I do" Mondo said a little bit hurt that Meowth could think otherwise. "But what if Giovanni realises that it is a distraction?"
Meowth knew what Mondo was saying but he couldn't do nothing. Jesse and James were his best friends and he had to help them. Jesse had stayed with him even when she knew that he had betrayed James to Butch and Cassidy. Mondo's faith in Jesse's ability to get James out was unshakeable but Meowth was more pessimistic. Giovanni always got what he wanted and if Jesse stood in his way then she would die. Meowth desperately wanted to help. He felt he owed it to James. The thought of loosing his friends left him with an aching pain in his heart that refused to go away. But Meowth was tough, like Jesse. He would not show any weakness in front of Mondo. The boy needed him to be strong. If Meowth cracked up then Mondo would too and right now Mondo was also terrified of his idols being hurt or worse…Meowth shook his head to clear his head of these thoughts.
"I'm sorry Mondo. I know yous care for dem. Dey are da family dat yous never had."
"You care for them too" Mondo bit his lip to stop himself from crying. "We have to do this"
Getting the power box outside the HQ was going to be harder than they thought. Originally Mondo was going to distract the man guarding it whilst Meowth disabled the power. He had seen Giovanni enter the code to switch it off when he had been top cat and had memorised it for future note. But there was one problem. The box was off the ground. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but Meowth could not jump very well with his leg and was having trouble walking as it was.
"What are we going to do?" Meowth said.
Mondo looked thoughtful for a minute and then said. "I'll use Ditto to help us"
"What can he do?" Meowth asked at Mondo released the transform pokemon. Ditto was strong, as Meowth had seen when it battled Jesse's Arbok a little over a year ago. Arbok had beaten Ditto but the little pink Pokemon had been a tough opponent. "Ditto transform into a Meowth" Mondo commanded. With a flash of light Meowth saw a perfect copy of himself standing before him.
"Ditto. We need you to go with Meowth to disable the power. He'll tell you what to do ok?"
"Meowth" Ditto replied nodding its head.
Meowth and Ditto hid in the bushes whilst Mondo hurried up to the guard.
"We need you're help in the gym" Mondo said to him. "There's some Pokemon trainers that escaped from Saffron. They are trying to start a fight in there"
The guard had heard of Giovanni's present bad mood and nodded before racing off Mondo behind him. "Ok den" Meowth said to Ditto as they hurried towards the power box. It consisted of a fenced off area with a metal pole in it. At the top of the pole was the metal box that contained the security system for over riding the power for the HQ. Most people who walked by it thought it supplied electricity for the gym and in a sense it did. Part of the electricity was channelled to the Viridian City gym. The box could be opened by hand and if you pressed in the right code on the control panel then the power supply would be shut off. Giovanni was the only one who knew what the code was except for Meowth. Ditto looked at him questionably when they paused by the pole. "Yous hafta climb up dare and press in da code. It is 234JKB5"
"Meowth?"
"What yous don't know how ta read?" Meowth sighed. "Ok den watch dis" he grabbed a twig up from the ground and wrote the numbers and letters out in the dust. "Dey look like dis. Do ya tink yous can do it now?"
Ditto nodded and climbed up the pole. Minutes went by and Meowth was beginning to worry when he heard the automatic click that signalled that the power had been shut down.
Meowth and Ditto hurried to the spot where they had arranged to meet with Mondo. They had done all they could do. The rest was up to Jesse. All they could do was wait.
"What is going on?" Giovanni shouted angrily. His office had just been enveloped in complete darkness. Dawn came in holding a candle. She set it down on the edge of desk. "The power has been shut down sir" she stated.
"What? No one has authorisation to do this…" Giovanni broke off. He remembered Meowth seeing the code he put in. If Meowth was here then that meant Jesse was also here some where. The cat had unintentionally let Giovanni know that they were coming ultimately giving him the advantage.
"The guard said that some rocket boy told him of fighting in the gym but when he got there, there was no fighting sir" Dawn continued.
"Mondo" Giovanni said more to himself than Dawn. "He would do any thing for those three"
"Do you want me to organise a search of the building sir?"
"No Dawn. I think I know where they will be heading. I want you to call Butch and Cassidy on their communicator. No one is to go down to that prison. If Jesse or Meowth show up I want them brought straight to me"
"Yes sir"
Giovanni waited until Dawn had gone before smiling to himself. He was well aware that Butch and Cassidy had helped James escape. He had been informed minutes before the power went out. This was a game to him. Cassidy at least he knew would sell off even her own partner to save her neck. James could, as Giovanni discovered, be manipulated by words and Jesse loved James and so would do any thing to save him. Butch was the same as Cassidy. Giovanni didn't want to loose Butch and Cassidy. They were competent agents most of the time but they could be replaced. James he needed alive at all costs for his plan to succeed but maybe he could use him to teach Jesse never to cross him. Jesse and Meowth would be killed; Mondo was a different matter. The kid was bright and Giovanni had high hopes for him at first. But the kid also possessed James' innocence. Well Giovanni didn't need to decide this minute. He would bide his time for now. Jesse knew that there was no way out of the HQ and could wait. Giovanni needed the power back on. If he went after them now then the chances were that they would escape. Giovanni couldn't allow that to happen. The power cut gave them the advantage for now but it would not last. Even with the power down leaving the HQ would be almost impossible. Jesse and her friends would just walk into his hands sooner or later….
"We have to keep going" Cassidy said impatiently putting her hands on her hips and staring down at Jesse and James. Butch was keeping look out and seemed as tense and nervous as Cassidy was especially as the power had gone out minutes before. This gave them an advantage for now as most of the agents in the HQ would go out to fix the problem but that would not last.
"He's trying his best" Jesse snapped gesturing to James who was leaning back against the wall taking a few minutes rest. "What if we're discovered?" Cassidy demanded "Its ok for him. Giovanni needs him. We're all expendable"
"Shut your mouth Cassidy" Jesse growled and turned back to James "Is it bad again?"
James smiled weakly "Just tired". It was true that just standing was tiring but the pain in his head had refused to go away. James didn't want Jesse to know this. He still felt as through he would die. Every time he attempted to view some thing the pain came on and there was nothing. Jesse was unaware of this and hardly noticed when his grip on her arm grew tighter with every jolt of pain shooting through his exhausted mind. "We have to keep moving" Jesse said gently tugging at his arm. James nodded and with his friends help he was able to take a few steps before collapsing against her completely. Jesse's leg nearly buckled under his weight but she resolved not to let James know this. She had thought she could take the weight seeing he had lost so much of it over the past week but now it was beginning to take its toll. I don't know if I can keep going she thought in panic. Cassidy seemed to sense this as she said "Butch go and help her or we'll never get out of here"
Butch shot Cassidy a look before grabbing hold of James' other arm. "Come on James lean on me as well"
"Thanks Botch" James said smiling slightly when he saw the scowl on the others face at the use of the nickname. For James the next ten minutes passed by in a haze. He couldn't believe how determined Jesse was to help him. Of course their friendship was the most important thing in the world to James too but back in the prison he had got the feeling that Jesse wanted to tell him some thing else. But there was no way that Jesse felt the way he did. Jesse was a strong young woman just like her mother; she deserved some one better than him. Because of James they could all be caught and killed. Maybe every one was right about him. He was a worthless do nothing. James had never wanted to believe this but now he knew it to be true.