LIKE A LITTLE NIGHTINGALE
Chapter 2
Butch stepped out of the double door of the hotel on the streets of Saffron. It was noon, so there was rush on the street. Buildings were high and nowhere were any green plants he was used to seeing in Celadon. The faces of the people were serious and didn't tell anything about their feelings. It feels like this hole city is dead, Butch thought and considered going back. But he decided to get some sightseeing.
On the other hand, what did it matter?
Butch wanted to avoid the rush of the centre and the fumes. He thought he could find no pokémon from there so he simply decided to find them elsewhere. He pushed himself through the crowd trying to find his way to the edged parts of the city. Little by little there were less and less people until he was alone on a dirty street. The ground was covered in trashes and all kinds of dirt and Butch thought he would not find any pokémon here, so he turned back. Instead of seeing an empty street he saw two men in black outfits in front of him.
Butch swallowed and took few steps back. The men were probably as confused as he was. They, however, had the experience brought by age and they recovered more quickly. At lighting speed the taller one ran behind Butch, caught his hands and locked them behind him. Butch shouted, more because of surprise than fear, since he didn't know what was going on.
"Check if he has any pokémon," the taller one commanded and his friend went quickly through Butch's pockets.
"It's no use, he has nothing!" he said in frustration and slapped Butch in the face. Butch tasted blood and understood that he was in a heap of trouble.
PRII! Somewhere came the shrill sound of a whistle which told there was a police nearby. The men almost died in fright.
"Lets go! If they are going to find out we are in Team Rocket everything is ruined!" the taller one shouted.
"What are we going to do to this?" the other man asked, glancing around him. His partner, who no doubt was the leader of the two, made a quick decision.
"We can take him with us. If we don't do it he'll tell about us. Besides, we can use him as a hostage." The other man nodded and lifted the terrified Butch on his back. If had had shouted on that moment he would have been saved, but he was too afraid to even whimper.
"Well, what do we do now?" the other man asked. His partner stroked his chin and leaned panting against a wall.
"Lets shoot him right there!" he suggested. Both Butch and the other man shivered.
"Really? I mean... we are bad guys, but killing a child?" The man, who had made the suggestion lost his nerves.
"Then tell me what are we going to do! That kid knows what we are and he must have studied all the descriptions! It's the easiest way to shoot him in the head and throw the body to trashes!" The other one was thinking quit hard.
"We can give him to Gio. He'll figure something." The other one started to laugh.
"To Gio?! To that wimp who just sits in his mother's shadow?" The other shrugged.
"Well, you can shoot him if you want, but I have nothing to do with it then." This reply made the other one very quiet. He wasn't interested in taking all the blame.
"Okay, Gio can have him."
Butch had no idea who that mysterious Gio was and he didn't want to know it ether. Judging from the men's talking he was in something really dangerous.
The men took him in a dilapidated hut and at first Butch thought Gio was waiting for them there. But the men opened a trapdoor which leaded to a dim tunnel lit up by a few lamps. The three stepped down and the taller man closed the door behind them. The tunnel was dank and the lamps didn't help very much. Butch slit his eyes trying to see something. Everything smelt stale. Few times the tunnel forked or there were ladders leaning on the wall, but the men just kept going without paying any attention to them.
Little by little there was more light and the tunnel became cleaner. At last the men stopped under iron ladders and the taller one quickly climbed up. He knocked a few times on the trapdoor above him and came back a few steps to wait. The trapdoor opened soundlessly and the light coming outside hurt Butch's eyes. A face of a woman showed up.
"Hey Jim and Mark. What do you have with you?" she asked and let the three climb up. Butch noticed a blood red R on woman's shirt.
"Just some stupid kid we found on the streets. We need to take him to Gio." The woman blinked playfully.
"What ever you say, Jim!"
"Let's go. I want to get rid of this thing and soon," the man the woman had called Jim said and ordered Mark to bring Butch with him.
The building where they had come was modern and looked like some office building. Everything had became so strange in just a little amount of time, that Butch wasn't even scared. Besides, he tried to tell himself that he didn't care.
"We need to talk with Gio," Jim said to a radiophone next to a huge door. It was quiet for a moment and the door gave a "click" and opened with out any sounds. Jim pointed the others to follow him.
Behind the door was a huge room with a table and a chair. There were some paintings on the wall, but besides them the room was empty. Butch remembered them men talking about how unintelligent that Gio was. Then he paid his attention to the chair behind the table. At first he thought it was empty, but then it turned around revealing a young dark-haired man sitting on it.
"What do you want?" the man asked with looking curious.
"We found this and don't know what to do with it," Jim said harshly. It was obvious he didn't respect the man sitting in front of him. The man, who Butch thought to be Gio, turned his look at him and slit his eyes like judging something.
"Why did you bring him to me? My mother takes care of this kind of things." Then Mark opened his mouth.
"But we don't want to kill him and we know what will happen to him if we give him to Madam." Gio wrinkled his nose.
"And you think I would not tell you to shoot his head off? Did you think you could escape your responsibilities?" The men started to act nervous now.
"No... I mean we..." Gio pointed the door with his hand.
"Out!", he shouted and them quickly turned around and ran out of the room. Gio stared after them for a moment and turned his attention to Butch then.
Butch blinked nervously. What was this all about?
"You've got two choices," Gio said and continued staring. Butch just stared back not understanding any of it. Gio sighed quietly. "Let me explain. We are Team Rocket, the best crime organisation in the whole world. This is our HQ and here we control all our business. Some of them are big, like the Pokémon Theme park we are going to build, but some are just little cases, like stealing someone's pokémon. Wherever our agents are, they are still important and we are not going to let them down. If they are caught we bail them or, if it's not possible we take care of their execution. You think it's cruel? But think, would you rather choose death instead of spending you life in a prison? Just like a Meowth-mother kills a deformed cub, we make sure that none of our agents need to live and suffer. Team Rocket is the caring Meowth-mother and all out agents are cubs. We are a family. Your choices are to join or to die." Gio waited the answer from the boy he was staring at, but received nothing. Butch just stared in front of him without seeing anything. "Besides, all new member get their own pokémon." He noticed in satisfaction how the brown eyes of the boy started to shine and he seemed to be more upright. Then all the excitement fled away.
"I can't, my mother would never allow... Besides, I really don't like the idea of harming people," Gio laughed a bit.
"You don't have to tell her and you'll get used to crimes some day." Butch bit his lip. He could have a pokémon... He raised his head.
"You don't know her. She always gets what she wants and her dream is to see me as a popular singer." Gio raised his brow and gave a look to the boy.
"Would you join if your mother didn't stop you?" he asked. Butch thought about it for a moment.
"I think that... yes." Gio pressed a button under his table and a piece of the wall moved soundlessly revealing a door.
"Follow me," Gio said and stepped into the tunnel the door led. Butch nodded and followed the tall man.
"By the way, you must call me Giovanni from now on. Gio is just a nickname from some Rockets. They think I'm a useless fool, but when I replace my mother they'll know they have been terribly wrong. By acting like a moron I can find out who really trust me and I can give them a reward later. I'm planning to gather a special team of Rockets for myself and I think you could join it too when your training is over," Giovanni explained while they walked in the tunnel. Butch just nodded. He wondered where they were going.
Finally Giovanni stopped and pressed a blue button on the wall. Again a piece of wall moved and this time it revealed a way to a some kind of laboratory. Giovanni stepped in Butch following near him.
Giovanni pointed to a scientist and whispered something in his ear. The scientist nodded and ran quickly away.
"This is one of our many laboratories. Just now we are making a research about a new type of antidote," Giovanni said and walked looking some test tubes and concoctions.
It took few minutes from the scientist to come back and when he arrived he had a bottle of some weird looking potion with him. He gave the bottle to Giovanni and went to continue his former job. Giovanni pointed Butch to follow him again and he led the boy back to his room. There he gave to bottle to him.
"What is this?" Butch asked and watched the potion curiously.
"It's just some acid," Giovanni answered with a small smile. Butch wrinkled confused. "Drink it and you beautiful voice is ruined for ever."
Butch was so upset he nearly dropped the bottle. He put it on the table so he wouldn't break it.
"Do I have to drink that?" he asked weakly and felt sick.
"It's not as powerful it looks like. It's not dangerous at all, you'll lose your voice and your throat will be sore for few weeks, that's all," Giovanni tried to calm him down and sat down on his chair. They both were quiet.
"I don't know..." Butch finally spoke after ten minutes. Giovanni shrugged. "I understand, it's a big decision so I'll give you a day to think. But I expect to see you here tomorrow evening or earlier. If you don't come, I'm going to make sure your family is going to suffer. You understand that you know too much and I can't just let you go." Butch raised his eyes.
"So I can go back?" he asked without believing his ears. He could see his family again! Giovanni shrugged again and called a Rocket to lead Butch out.
The time had run a lot quicker than Butch had thought and it was already dim outside. He knew his mother would explode...
"Where on Earth you've been goofing the hole day?!" was the first thing what Agatha said.
"I was investigating the city..." Butch answered weakly.
"The city? And I think you haven't even practiced?" Great. Butch had a feeling that a mother of someone else would be worried and ask "Are you okay?" instead if this. "Now you are going to take your music book and learn at least one song!" Agatha said and left the hotel room with her husband. Butch sat down on his bed and gave a look to Emily, who shrugged and smiled a little.
Little by little Butch's conscience started to pang him. Actually mother had a reason to be angry. He had been off the whole day and mom must have worried all the time. And not for no reason, Butch thought bitterly. Tomorrow I'm going to leave them... Then he decided to go and say he was sorry and see Giovanni after that. He didn't like the idea, but crime just was not for him, so he decided to choose the other way...
"Where are you going?" Emily asked when Butch opened the door. This time the only answer she received was a sad smile.
Butch remembered the number of his parents' room and he found it easily. He was just about to knock at the door when he heard talking in the room. He new that spying wasn't very nice, but he heard they were talking about him, so he thought he had the right to listen. He pressed his ear on the door and tried to be as quiet as possible.
"You were too angry to him. He came back, mind you," he heard his father saying. Agatha snapped:
"But what about if he hadn't? That would have meant he couldn't sing tomorrow and that would have ruined all have done for high position!"
Butch took a deep breath. This was actually something he had never thought. He had always thought singing was for his own good and for his future. He hadn't liked it, but it was better than to know that your own mother cared for you only because you were talented... He closed his eyes slowly and tried to keep his thoughts together. He felt hot tears on his cheeks. No! He was not going to cry for her! She was not worth it! Trying to hold back his sobbing he ran away. He needed to get out!
In shock Butch wandered around the city not caring where he was going. He didn't know what to do. Then his wandering look caught a big flashing "Saffron"-neon sign. Something in it caught his attention and took a while from him to understand. It was the red letter R! Now he knew what he had to do. For now on he would live for himself only.
He held the tiny bottle in his hands and looked at the acid. Butch raised his look and saw Giovanni, who nodded to him. Butch closed his eyes, lifted the bottle on his lips and tilted it. Burning acid flowed in his throat and he had to spit and cough. He had once drank washing-up liquid but it was nothing compared to this! He felt like someone was cutting his throat with a knife and he was about to give the bottle away and tell he had had enough, but then he saw his mother in his mind. He saw his mother sitting in the auditorium, mother bringing new songs to practise and mother waiting in the lobby. Anger and bitterness took control of him and he drank until the bottle was empty.
Butch sat on his bed in deep thoughts. He had been in Team Rocket for two months now. From TV he had seen how the police had looked for him everywhere. He had seen his mother crying on the screen. He had seen Emily, who was not smiling anymore and his dad, who's eyes were red from sleepless nights. Butch sighed. What about himself then? He had lost his beautiful voice and sounded like a frog with a few spoons in his throat. He had his own Drowzee now and a friend, a girl named Cassidy who spent lots of her time with him.
Butch sat and thought for a moment.
Was he happy now?
THE END