****
Crimson Red ; Part II of the Point of Endurance Trilogy
By Silver Vaporeon
Chapter 7- The Night Goes On…It was raining out in the forest where Mondo had his cabin. Meowth sighed, having nothing to do. Mondo had been out since three that afternoon making his routine deliveries. It wasn't unusual to be left alone. Jessie and James had often 'abandoned' him many times in caves, forests or after arguments but they always were together in the end.
Meowth got up and looked out the window. Rain streaked the windowpane and he could barely see a thing. However, he did see two drenched figures walking past the cabin; two very familiar figures.
"Terri and Clark…" he hissed and shut the curtain before running under the bed. His heart was pounding as he lay under cover but a whole thirty minutes passed without as much as a knock on the door. They hadn't even seen the cabin. Meowth sighed with relief and emerged again. He was silent for several hours, batting a small ball of yarn he found in one of Mondo's drawers around.
Mondo was yet to return when night fell and Meowth, at the brink of complete boredom, took out his guitar and started tuning softly. After tuning, he strummed his instrument once, glad to hear something besides his own voice. Taking great care, he started playing a song that he had often sang softly in the quiet of the night after Jessie and James had gone to sleep, careful not to awaken the sleepers. This time, he strummed and sang even more softly to the point where he was almost singing within himself.
Aoi aoi shizuka
na yoru ni
wa
Oira hitori de tetsugaku suru no nyaa
Kusamura de mushi-tachi ga
Koro-koro Chiri-chiri
Oishisou ni naite 'ru kedo
Konya wa tabete agenai no nyaa
O-tsuki-sama ga anna ni marui
nante
Anna ni marui nante
Anna ni...
Sekai no donna maru yori marui
nyaa
Sekai no donna maru yori marui
nyaa
Hiroi hiroi uchuu
no doko ka ni
Mou hitori no oira ga iru
no nyaa
Onaji you ni kusamura de
Boro-boro Chara-rira
Gitaa hiite iru no ka nyaa
Nyaasu no uta wo utatte 'ru
ka nyaa
Hitori-kiri ga konna ni setsunai
nante
Konna ni setsunai nante
Konna ni...
Ima-goro minna nani shite iru
no ka nyaa
Ima-goro minna nani shite iru
no ka nyaa
Dare ka ni denwa shitaku natchatta nyaa
The last cord vibrated longer than usual and Meowth put down his instrument with tears in his eyes. "Jessie…James…Ah hope ya'll right…"
Mondo was exhausted. Not only did he have his usual errands, he was given double duty for being off task for the several hours he was helping Jessie, James and Meowth and he had to be even more attentive, trying to pick up any information about Jessie or the Metamorphosis Project. No one really seemed to know anything about Jessie's disappearance other than the rumor that she was 'fired' and no one talked about the Project even casually.
Mondo trudged into the cabin at around ten at night and simply fell into bed.
"Long day?" Meowth asked, taking out a pre-made dinner out of the refrigerator for him.
Mondo was silent for a long time and he nodded. "Yes, its has been a long day. I hope those two are safe tonight."
*********
It was dark and quiet in the Metamorphism Labs. After the disappearance of Jessie, there was no research to be done. Only the occasional messenger or scientist ventured into the rooms the project had occupied. Two people occupied the main room with the glass capsules and it was anything but quiet.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Sarah screamed at David and hurled a chair towards his direction, which hit the wall and broke into several pieces. "Damn it all! Now what do we have, Dave?!"
David fiddled with his glasses nervously but then got angry. He ran forward and pinned Sarah against the opposite wall, taking her by surprise.
"Now you listen, you bitch. It is not my fault that she escaped. You calm down, stop blaming me and start using your head. WHO could have helped James escape and kidnap Jessie? We saw nothing but shadows. Everyone on the Project checked out."
"We don't have anything left, idiot!" Sarah ignored David's query. "'Not my fault', not your fault, my ass! We're all screwed. There's nothing left and we have yet to finish what Ms. Jezebelle has paid us to do. It's going to cost, Dave. It's going to cost. We can't contact her unless we are sucidal and she's going to come any moment within the next week. She won't be happy until she's married to James and if she isn't, Jessie won't be for us to use at our digression and you're saying I should calm down?" Sarah snarled.
"Come on now. We've got all agents on the alert. There is no way she'll escape for good," he smiled wickedly.
He pulled her from the wall and they somehow got over to an empty table nearby and were sprawled across it, kissing hard and pressing against each other. It was at this point Katherine stumbled across them. The two screamed and fell off the table. Katherine sweatdropped and decided to go to the subject at hand.
"Um…ok, lovebirds. Enough of that; I've seen you do that so often it's not funny.
"We've got two grunts with a pokèmon of James'; I say that it is the perfect way to track him down. Our equipment won't work since James opened the hatch of the glass capsule early and set off the safety guards on all of the hatches. So…I propose that we let Jezebelle's team work with this one."
Sarah and David nodded, still stunned at her sudden appearance. Katherine pulled out a battered pokèball and sent it over the pokèball transporter. "Done. Come on, we've got a flight to catch to the Seafoam Islands. We'll overlook the experimentation there." Katherine smiled, amused that her two superiors were following like little children, afraid that she would raise attention to their flings.
*****
just in case you're wondering, the song that Meowth sings is "Nyasu no Uta", the 2nd Japanese ending song for Pocket Monsters.
