Chapter Eight: Kidnapped
James woke up feeling a little less exhausted and decided to go down stairs and get something to eat. The cottage remained silent save for his footsteps as he walked down the stairs retrieving Victreebell's Pokeball from his coat pocket as he did so. Weezing had already eaten so it was just him and Victreebell. James wished that Jesse would come back but the resolve to tell her everything and the sleep had calmed James down slightly. If Jesse cared for him as much as she said she did then she would be back. She was probably staying away to teach him a lesson. Still James didn't feel much like cooking so called for a pizza. He fed Victreebell, getting bitten twice in the process and then sat down on the sofa flicking mindlessly through the channels on the TV waiting for the pizza to arrive. James jumped when he heard the back door crash open. Thinking it was just Jesse or Meowth he didn't bother to get up from the sofa. James cried out in surprise when a pair of hands grabbed him from behind pining him down on the sofa. James struggled and tried to cry out again but his cries were muffled when he felt a cloth being pressed down over his nose and mouth. The stuff on the cloth smelt strange and it was making James feel sleepy. Chloroform he thought as his eyes started to close. Chloroform was used as an early general anaesthetic. No he said to himself. I can't fall asleep. These thugs could try to hurt Jesse and Meowth too. James felt the man who was holding him down relax his grip on him thinking that he was almost unconscious. James pulled away and jumped up from the sofa. This action took the men by surprise. James guessed there were two of them. His head felt a little clearer and he knew he had to get out of the house if he was to have any chance of escaping. James made a break for the door but one of the men grabbed his arm. James did the only thing he could think of. He punched the man in the head. These men were about twice the size of James so he didn't expect it to do any good at all. The man yelped and let James go. But the relief was short lived as the man swung his arm out striking James across the face knocking him back onto the floor. "Don't do that!" the second man yelled. "She told us not to lay a finger on him!" "The little shit hit me" the man screamed back kicking James hard in the ribs. James winced in pain and went down again harder this time. "Amber will have our heads you idiot. Now give me the rope and lets get this over with" James gasped in pain and pushed himself up onto his knees as the men were arguing. This was his chance to get away. He got shakily to his feet and started to back away. James didn't think the kick in the ribs was anything serious but it still hurt like hell. Gritting his teeth he backed away from them. The smack round the face and the effect of the chloroform were making the room slowly spin round. James felt like he was going to throw up. I can't I have to get out of here he told his aching body. The men had noticed that he was getting away and came after him again now. James' legs buckled and he fell down unable to stand any longer. With his last ebb of strength James unclipped Victreebell's Pokeball from his belt. Maybe the plant would finally listen to him. James didn't get the chance to find out. Just as he grabbed hold of it the man whom he'd struck came over to where he was lying. Still angered from the blow James delivered to his head, and wanting revenge, he grabbed James' wrist and twisted hard tearing the Pokeball from his hand in the process. James screamed at this new agony and he heard the crack of the bone breaking. The man let him fall back to the floor after pocketing the Pokeball. "You stupid idiot!" the second man shouted. "What the hell did you do that for?" "I was trying to get the Pokeball" "You didn't have to do that!" "He deserved it." "Amber is gonna kill you for this!" "Amber's all talk" the second man snapped turning back to James. "You get the boy I'll make sure everything's tidy. We don't want his little friends guessing what happened". The first man knelt down beside James and tied his hands behind his back ignoring his cry of pain when the man jogged James' broken wrist. James had no fight left in him now. It was all he could do stop himself from sobbing with the pain as his arms were pulled tightly behind his back. Why are they doing this? He asked himself through the agony as he was hauled to his feet. His wrist hurt even worse than before in this awkward position and his vision was decreasing rapidly as the man pulled him along. James was dimly aware of being thrown in the back of a van outside before the pain became too much and he blacked out.
"What the hell did you do to him?" Amber demanded as her employees brought the still unconscious James down to the lab. "He was a little difficult Madame," the man who had broken James' wrist stammered. "We had trouble restraining him" "That's a load of nonsense," Amber snapped. "I thought I had totally prepared you?" "Blame him," the first man muttered jerking a thumb in his companion's direction. "How are we going to get him to trust us now?" Amber shouted. "God why do I have to work with such incompetent fools? Just get the hell out of here before I get really angry" The men bid a hasty retreat recalling what Amber did to her best friend knowing that she wouldn't think twice about killing them too if they annoyed her again. "You" Amber snapped to the man beside her. "Get him up on the table now! I wouldn't put it passed those two fools to get me the wrong one. We'll do the blood test and then look at that wrist". The guard untied James and set him down on the examination table. As he did this James started to stir. "Shit" Amber muttered. "Where am I?" James asked weakly. Amber regarded him coldly for a few seconds. Those guys she had sent after him judging by the look of pain on James' face had roughed him up pretty badly. Amber was starting to have second thoughts about sparing their lives. Well it was no matter now. She could deal with them later. "Just lie still" she said as kindly as she could. James looked terrified Amber knew that they would have problems controlling him now. "What is going on?" James insisted as Garret advanced with the needle. As soon as James saw it he screamed and tried to climb down off of the table. Luckily the guard had predicted this and pinned James down by his shoulders. "Get off of me!" James cried as Garret tried to get the needle in his arm. Amber sighed knowing James wouldn't be able to break away with his wrist in bad shape but he was causing enough fuss for the other people in the lab to look up from their work and come and help hold him down. "Get away from me!" James screamed again as Garret finally managed to get the needle into his upper arm. As soon as it pierced the flesh James stopped struggling and his green eyes went wide with fear. Amber sighed, as he started gasping and sobbing. She waited until Garret had taken the blood sample before she pushed the guard away and took his place beside James. "Calm down" she instructed. "We don't want to hurt you James. That was just a little blood test ok? Just lie still and relax. I'm sorry those morons were so rough on you". "Why am I here?" James asked his voice small and shrill sounding. I don't think we're going to have any problems at all with this one Amber thought to herself. "I'll explain everything later" Amber said. Then Garret came back holding the results of the blood test. "Its positive Madame. We've found one of them at last" "Good" Amber said ignoring the terrified look on James' face. "I want you to have a look at his wrist. Fix it up and take him to room 122. I'll be along later to talk to him". "But I'm not a doctor?" Garret stammered. "You can set a bone can't you?" Amber snapped. "Yes but." "Then do it damn it and don't ever question me again got it?" Garret nodded and gestured to James to sit up as Amber left the lab. He set the broken bone as best he could and then got the guard to take James to the room that Amber had mentioned. The guard shoved James roughly inside and slammed the door behind him. James then heard a key turning in a lock. He sank down the other side of the door his wrist still throbbing unbearably. But James was also afraid. He knew what that blood test had shown. They wanted him for the same reason that Giovanni had, for future sight.
Cassidy sighed and took another meal over to the couple on table 4. She was so worried about Butch that she had made him stay away from work today. Cassidy hated Monday's. They were the busiest days in the café and she was run off her feet most of the time. She leaned back against the counter and watched resentfully at the couple in the corner. I bet they don't have a worry in the world she thought angrily. It's just not fair! Why do I always get the worst of life? "Candy table eight" the boss called. 'It's Cassidy you stupid bitch' she wanted to say but knew better. "Ok Mary" she said sweetly grabbing her notepad and hurrying over to the lone man sitting at the table. Cassidy had learned quickly that if a man were alone then he would pay better tips. "Hi what can I get you?" she asked with false cheerfulness. "Candy right?" he asked. Cassidy was about to correct him but he continued. "I'm looking for Cassidy Parker? Do you know where I could find her or her partner?" "I'm not sure" Cassidy lied. "If you tell me why you're looking for them then I might be able to help" "I'm a friend of James'. He heard they were in Celadon and he asked me to check up on them." Cassidy frowned. There was something creepy about this guy and she didn't like it one bit and besides Jesse and James had no idea where they were. "Sorry" Cassidy said. "I don't know any James or Cassidy ok?" "Well if you're sure," he said getting ready to leave. "I'll leave you my name and number and if you remember anything you can let me know". "That won't be necessary thanks," Cassidy said as she walked back to the counter. "Good luck in finding them". Cassidy was worried now. Who was looking for them and why? "Mary I'm not feeling too great" she called. "Can I go early? I think I've caught the flu from my boyfriend" "Ok" Mary called from the kitchen. "Get well soon Candy" "I will" Cassidy called back hanging up her apron and walking out of the café. No sooner had she left did she felt someone grab her from behind.
When the pain subsided James got up from his position on the floor to look round the room he was in. The walls were painted a sky blue colour and the duvets on the two beds matched the walls. Between the two beds there was a small nightstand and a pair of jeans and a T-shirt folded up on top of it. There was another, which James discovered connected to a bathroom. He tried the main door again but it was firmly locked. James bit his lip to crush the panic that was slowly rising inside of him. He had become so panicked when Garret held up the needle because James recognised that scene. It was the viewing he had, had on the beach and in the hospital and that terrified him. Who was this gang? James knew why they had taken him but what did they want to use his future sight for? That woman said she would be along later to explain. James was getting a weird feeling about her. She had said sorry for those men hurting him and that puzzled James. Why would she care? Giovanni hadn't done when his guards hurt James that time. And what of Jesse and Meowth? They would have discovered that he was missing by now. James knew he had to try and escape. James also knew that he shouldn't try anything until he knew more about where he was. He had no idea of what town he was in whether it was Kanto or Johto. He knew nothing about this woman and her gang. James knew he would have to wait for the woman to explain things to him. But something else was worrying James. The scientist had said 'We've found one of them at last'. What did he mean by one of them?
James woke up feeling a little less exhausted and decided to go down stairs and get something to eat. The cottage remained silent save for his footsteps as he walked down the stairs retrieving Victreebell's Pokeball from his coat pocket as he did so. Weezing had already eaten so it was just him and Victreebell. James wished that Jesse would come back but the resolve to tell her everything and the sleep had calmed James down slightly. If Jesse cared for him as much as she said she did then she would be back. She was probably staying away to teach him a lesson. Still James didn't feel much like cooking so called for a pizza. He fed Victreebell, getting bitten twice in the process and then sat down on the sofa flicking mindlessly through the channels on the TV waiting for the pizza to arrive. James jumped when he heard the back door crash open. Thinking it was just Jesse or Meowth he didn't bother to get up from the sofa. James cried out in surprise when a pair of hands grabbed him from behind pining him down on the sofa. James struggled and tried to cry out again but his cries were muffled when he felt a cloth being pressed down over his nose and mouth. The stuff on the cloth smelt strange and it was making James feel sleepy. Chloroform he thought as his eyes started to close. Chloroform was used as an early general anaesthetic. No he said to himself. I can't fall asleep. These thugs could try to hurt Jesse and Meowth too. James felt the man who was holding him down relax his grip on him thinking that he was almost unconscious. James pulled away and jumped up from the sofa. This action took the men by surprise. James guessed there were two of them. His head felt a little clearer and he knew he had to get out of the house if he was to have any chance of escaping. James made a break for the door but one of the men grabbed his arm. James did the only thing he could think of. He punched the man in the head. These men were about twice the size of James so he didn't expect it to do any good at all. The man yelped and let James go. But the relief was short lived as the man swung his arm out striking James across the face knocking him back onto the floor. "Don't do that!" the second man yelled. "She told us not to lay a finger on him!" "The little shit hit me" the man screamed back kicking James hard in the ribs. James winced in pain and went down again harder this time. "Amber will have our heads you idiot. Now give me the rope and lets get this over with" James gasped in pain and pushed himself up onto his knees as the men were arguing. This was his chance to get away. He got shakily to his feet and started to back away. James didn't think the kick in the ribs was anything serious but it still hurt like hell. Gritting his teeth he backed away from them. The smack round the face and the effect of the chloroform were making the room slowly spin round. James felt like he was going to throw up. I can't I have to get out of here he told his aching body. The men had noticed that he was getting away and came after him again now. James' legs buckled and he fell down unable to stand any longer. With his last ebb of strength James unclipped Victreebell's Pokeball from his belt. Maybe the plant would finally listen to him. James didn't get the chance to find out. Just as he grabbed hold of it the man whom he'd struck came over to where he was lying. Still angered from the blow James delivered to his head, and wanting revenge, he grabbed James' wrist and twisted hard tearing the Pokeball from his hand in the process. James screamed at this new agony and he heard the crack of the bone breaking. The man let him fall back to the floor after pocketing the Pokeball. "You stupid idiot!" the second man shouted. "What the hell did you do that for?" "I was trying to get the Pokeball" "You didn't have to do that!" "He deserved it." "Amber is gonna kill you for this!" "Amber's all talk" the second man snapped turning back to James. "You get the boy I'll make sure everything's tidy. We don't want his little friends guessing what happened". The first man knelt down beside James and tied his hands behind his back ignoring his cry of pain when the man jogged James' broken wrist. James had no fight left in him now. It was all he could do stop himself from sobbing with the pain as his arms were pulled tightly behind his back. Why are they doing this? He asked himself through the agony as he was hauled to his feet. His wrist hurt even worse than before in this awkward position and his vision was decreasing rapidly as the man pulled him along. James was dimly aware of being thrown in the back of a van outside before the pain became too much and he blacked out.
"What the hell did you do to him?" Amber demanded as her employees brought the still unconscious James down to the lab. "He was a little difficult Madame," the man who had broken James' wrist stammered. "We had trouble restraining him" "That's a load of nonsense," Amber snapped. "I thought I had totally prepared you?" "Blame him," the first man muttered jerking a thumb in his companion's direction. "How are we going to get him to trust us now?" Amber shouted. "God why do I have to work with such incompetent fools? Just get the hell out of here before I get really angry" The men bid a hasty retreat recalling what Amber did to her best friend knowing that she wouldn't think twice about killing them too if they annoyed her again. "You" Amber snapped to the man beside her. "Get him up on the table now! I wouldn't put it passed those two fools to get me the wrong one. We'll do the blood test and then look at that wrist". The guard untied James and set him down on the examination table. As he did this James started to stir. "Shit" Amber muttered. "Where am I?" James asked weakly. Amber regarded him coldly for a few seconds. Those guys she had sent after him judging by the look of pain on James' face had roughed him up pretty badly. Amber was starting to have second thoughts about sparing their lives. Well it was no matter now. She could deal with them later. "Just lie still" she said as kindly as she could. James looked terrified Amber knew that they would have problems controlling him now. "What is going on?" James insisted as Garret advanced with the needle. As soon as James saw it he screamed and tried to climb down off of the table. Luckily the guard had predicted this and pinned James down by his shoulders. "Get off of me!" James cried as Garret tried to get the needle in his arm. Amber sighed knowing James wouldn't be able to break away with his wrist in bad shape but he was causing enough fuss for the other people in the lab to look up from their work and come and help hold him down. "Get away from me!" James screamed again as Garret finally managed to get the needle into his upper arm. As soon as it pierced the flesh James stopped struggling and his green eyes went wide with fear. Amber sighed, as he started gasping and sobbing. She waited until Garret had taken the blood sample before she pushed the guard away and took his place beside James. "Calm down" she instructed. "We don't want to hurt you James. That was just a little blood test ok? Just lie still and relax. I'm sorry those morons were so rough on you". "Why am I here?" James asked his voice small and shrill sounding. I don't think we're going to have any problems at all with this one Amber thought to herself. "I'll explain everything later" Amber said. Then Garret came back holding the results of the blood test. "Its positive Madame. We've found one of them at last" "Good" Amber said ignoring the terrified look on James' face. "I want you to have a look at his wrist. Fix it up and take him to room 122. I'll be along later to talk to him". "But I'm not a doctor?" Garret stammered. "You can set a bone can't you?" Amber snapped. "Yes but." "Then do it damn it and don't ever question me again got it?" Garret nodded and gestured to James to sit up as Amber left the lab. He set the broken bone as best he could and then got the guard to take James to the room that Amber had mentioned. The guard shoved James roughly inside and slammed the door behind him. James then heard a key turning in a lock. He sank down the other side of the door his wrist still throbbing unbearably. But James was also afraid. He knew what that blood test had shown. They wanted him for the same reason that Giovanni had, for future sight.
Cassidy sighed and took another meal over to the couple on table 4. She was so worried about Butch that she had made him stay away from work today. Cassidy hated Monday's. They were the busiest days in the café and she was run off her feet most of the time. She leaned back against the counter and watched resentfully at the couple in the corner. I bet they don't have a worry in the world she thought angrily. It's just not fair! Why do I always get the worst of life? "Candy table eight" the boss called. 'It's Cassidy you stupid bitch' she wanted to say but knew better. "Ok Mary" she said sweetly grabbing her notepad and hurrying over to the lone man sitting at the table. Cassidy had learned quickly that if a man were alone then he would pay better tips. "Hi what can I get you?" she asked with false cheerfulness. "Candy right?" he asked. Cassidy was about to correct him but he continued. "I'm looking for Cassidy Parker? Do you know where I could find her or her partner?" "I'm not sure" Cassidy lied. "If you tell me why you're looking for them then I might be able to help" "I'm a friend of James'. He heard they were in Celadon and he asked me to check up on them." Cassidy frowned. There was something creepy about this guy and she didn't like it one bit and besides Jesse and James had no idea where they were. "Sorry" Cassidy said. "I don't know any James or Cassidy ok?" "Well if you're sure," he said getting ready to leave. "I'll leave you my name and number and if you remember anything you can let me know". "That won't be necessary thanks," Cassidy said as she walked back to the counter. "Good luck in finding them". Cassidy was worried now. Who was looking for them and why? "Mary I'm not feeling too great" she called. "Can I go early? I think I've caught the flu from my boyfriend" "Ok" Mary called from the kitchen. "Get well soon Candy" "I will" Cassidy called back hanging up her apron and walking out of the café. No sooner had she left did she felt someone grab her from behind.
When the pain subsided James got up from his position on the floor to look round the room he was in. The walls were painted a sky blue colour and the duvets on the two beds matched the walls. Between the two beds there was a small nightstand and a pair of jeans and a T-shirt folded up on top of it. There was another, which James discovered connected to a bathroom. He tried the main door again but it was firmly locked. James bit his lip to crush the panic that was slowly rising inside of him. He had become so panicked when Garret held up the needle because James recognised that scene. It was the viewing he had, had on the beach and in the hospital and that terrified him. Who was this gang? James knew why they had taken him but what did they want to use his future sight for? That woman said she would be along later to explain. James was getting a weird feeling about her. She had said sorry for those men hurting him and that puzzled James. Why would she care? Giovanni hadn't done when his guards hurt James that time. And what of Jesse and Meowth? They would have discovered that he was missing by now. James knew he had to try and escape. James also knew that he shouldn't try anything until he knew more about where he was. He had no idea of what town he was in whether it was Kanto or Johto. He knew nothing about this woman and her gang. James knew he would have to wait for the woman to explain things to him. But something else was worrying James. The scientist had said 'We've found one of them at last'. What did he mean by one of them?