Chapter Nine: Answers
Jesse hurried away from the police station with Meowth racing behind her. "Jesse where do yous tink yous are going?" he shouted as he ran. Jesse ignored him and once she was back at the cottage she ran upstairs and started putting some clothes into her backpack. "Jessica!" Meowth yelled. He had never used her full name before and this finally got Jesse's attention. "What da hell are yous doing?" "I am going to find my James" Jesse shouted back clenching her fists as she spoke. "No one messes with him and when they do they have to answer to me".
Meowth took a step back. He had never seen Jesse so angry but through the anger he saw pain in her eyes. This was reminding her of what happened last time. Jesse loved James so much and didn't want to loose him. Meowth was terrified of history repeating itself too and what Jenny told them had brought him close to tears but the police were the only ones in a position to help. What could he and Jesse do alone? "How are yous going ta do dat?" Meowth asked placing a paw on her arm. "He could be any where Jess." "Butch and Cassidy" Jesse replied determinedly. "What do ya want with dose two?" Meowth demanded. He hated those two with a passion for as long as he could remember and what they did to him (through they redeemed themselves by helping Jesse and James) was something that Meowth would never forgive. Getting mixed up with those two was a very bad idea. "They were Giovanni's favourites. They must know more about this gang that have James" Jesse explained. "They helped me once maybe they will again" This did make sense to Meowth. Butch and Cassidy were two of Giovanni's most trusted agents at one point. They were the only ones that would know where to find this gang. "Ok" Meowth said. "But I'm coming too. Yous are right Jess. Dey mess with one of us den dey mess with all of us. We're still a team and we hafta stick together" "Thank you" Jesse said hugging the cat. She started sobbing into his fur. Normally Meowth would have screamed at her for getting him wet but Jesse needed someone right now so he was happy to comfort her. At last Jesse released him. "I'll make arrangements for Arbok, Wobbuffet and Weezing to be transferred to Mondo at Pokemon tech. He'll look after them. I couldn't find Victreebell so I'm assuming that James has him with him". "Wait" Meowth said. "We might need back up. Keep hold of da Pokemon Jess. Dis could turn ugly ya know. And we'll also need transport". Jesse was glad Meowth was coming. She had been so absorbed in going to rescue James that she hadn't thought of how they were going to travel. "And do ya know where Butch and Cassidy are?" Meowth added as an after thought. "Celadon City" Jesse replied. "Mondo told me" "Right but we need a car," Meowth said. "Cally" Jesse said without hesitating. Meowth shot her a look. "She's our friend too," Jesse added. "We've been keeping her in the dark too long Meowth." "If your sure" he said. "I am" Jesse said and with that she grabbed her backpack and she and Meowth locked up the cottage and hurried down the road to Cally's house.
James looked up as the woman he had seen before entered the room. She smiled slightly and took a seat on the bed opposite him. "How are you feeling?" she asked compassionately. James shrugged fearfully and looked at the floor. There was something about this woman that frightened him. "I brought you some pain killers for that arm" she said next handing James the packet of Aspirin. "Thank you" "I'm Amber by the way." James wanted to take an Aspirin as his wrist was still very painful but he wanted to keep a clear head. These people, no matter what the pretence Amber was trying to put up, where evil. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt" Amber said next "My guards aren't exactly the smartest guys around. Is there anything you want?" "To go home" Amber shook her head "I cannot let you go home. I'm sorry but I need you" "Why?" "James I make a great friend but a greater enemy" Amber said a little coldly. "Please don't make his any harder than it is" "Why have you got me here?" "Your TM of course. A human learning Future Sight is a very rare thing. My master was intrigued by it" "Your master?" James for some reason thought that Amber was in charge here. "You'd like him, he's like Giovanni" Amber paused seeing the look on James' face "Or maybe not. He doesn't want to hurt you either. We just need your help" James knew this was coming. They wanted him to do viewings for them so they could use him to do evil. Amber was not someone who liked people refusing her James was sure so he knew he had to be careful. "Why do you want my help?" "Let me explain a few things first" Amber said. "I have no pretences about who we are as a gang. Yes we are like Team Rocket in a sense but we have greater ambitions than Team Rocket. My master is not as rich as Giovanni is and we do not have HQ's all over Kanto and Johto as Team Rocket did. We keep a low profile and do not steal Pokemon to make a living. For years, since Madame Boss killed my master's father, we have hidden in this base waiting for the day when we would destroy Team Rocket and Giovanni" "Giovanni is dead" James said. "I know and so we lost our goal. For a time our gang lost its direction but now we have a new goal. If we cannot kill Giovanni then we'll accomplish what he could not. For months we have been searching for the ones Giovanni used in his TM experiments. Now we have found you we want to make a deal. I know that you and your partner have been having problems and I can offer a solution. You help us and my scientists will help you" "I don't need help" "James don't be naïve. I know that Future Sight had driven you and Jesse apart. Help us and my scientists can rid you of the curse Giovanni left you with. Then you and Jesse can go on as normal." James shook his head "It was me that drove me and Jesse apart, not Future Sight" "Think about it James" Amber said softly. "This is a curse left by Giovanni. Wherever you go you will have this. It will be with you until the day you die always reminding you of what happened. You think you can ignore it but you can't. It will never go away James, never" James bit his lip and swallowed hard. Amber had described exactly how he had been feeling since that day at the beach. James wanted more than anything to be rid of Future Sight. That was partly why he had never done a viewing. It frightened him too much and every time he closed his eyes he could picture himself back in the prison with Giovanni forcing him into viewings, viewings that had killed people. James had learned a few months after it happened that the police had got there too late to save the Orange island gym leaders. Giovanni had them killed. Jesse must have kept this knowledge from James so he wouldn't get upset. It hurt so much to think that something he did killed 4 people who he had met when the twerp was in the Orange League. James tried telling himself that he didn't have any choice but there was always a choice. Maybe he should have killed himself rather than obey Giovanni. But his Boss had used the woman he loved against him! No matter what happened James could never have sent Jesse to her death. Amber was right. Those things would never go away. He did them and he no matter how many times he told himself that Giovanni forced him to do it James knew that it had been down to him and him alone. He wanted this cursed TM gone so badly that he actually felt sick inside. James looked up at Amber his tears already falling despite efforts to hold them back. Amber smiled to herself and told James she would be back later. This was working out just fine. It had got James thinking about what he did again. "I don't think I will have any problems at all with this one," she said to herself.
"So you're saying that James can predict stuff?" Cally repeated for the third time. Jesse sighed and nodded. She had hoped Cally would just accept what she was telling her and they could go to Celadon City. "This is amazing" Cally said. "I knew there was something about Jim but I never guessed that he had this kind of talent". "Its not a talent Cally." Jesse snapped, "It's a curse and we have to get going. Every minute we waste they could be torturing him or something". "Of course" Cally said her eyes shining at the thought of being in on the rescue mission. "So why are we going to Celadon City anyway?" "These other two ex rockets live there" Jesse explained going towards the front door. "They were some of the top agents. They'll know more about this gang than the police. Can we take you're car?" "Sure" Cally said. They hurried out the front and found that the Ferrari was gone and in its place was a red jeep a little like the one Mondo used to drive. "I traded my Ferrari in. This is better for the job anyway," Cally explained. "Yous were aloud ta trade it in?" Meowth asked. Cally shrugged "Sure furball. It's no big deal now come on. We've got to get going" The drive to Celadon City only took half an hour but it was the longest half an hour of Jesse's life. She sat in the back of the jeep whilst Meowth sat next to Cally. Jesse had no idea what she was going to say to Butch and Cassidy when they got there and she was terrified that they might not want to help them. When they finally arrived Cally parked the jeep and Jesse realised with some embarrassment that she had no idea where in Celadon City Butch and Cassidy lived. Mondo had just said Celadon and Jesse hadn't given it a second thought. "That's no biggie" Cally said her old cheerfulness returning. "Me and the furball will go and call in at every house and you can go into the town and see if you can spot them. You remember what they look like right?" this last bit was too Meowth. "Yeah I remember alright," Meowth muttered darkly. They split up and arranged to meet up in an hour's time. Jesse wandered round for an hour going into all the shops she imagined that Cassidy might go in. She had no idea where Butch might hang out so she concentrated on looking for Cassidy. For the first time Jesse saw the friendship the two had when they were kids as an advantage. Purely by luck Jesse had been walked passed the café where Cassidy worked when she saw her coming out of it. Cassidy looked deep in thought and when Jesse called out to her she ignored her. Jesse sighed and sprinted after her rival and grabbed her shoulders forcing her to stop. Cassidy shrieked and whirled round. "Shit Jesse what the hell did you do that for?" the orange haired woman cried angrily. "And what the hell are you doing here?" "Shut up" Jesse hissed. "People are staring" she grabbed Cassidy's arm and dragged her inside a shop doorway. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Cassidy snapped. "Scaring me half to death and then dragging me around. Jesse I thought we weren't going to have contact anymore?" "James is missing" Jesse said. "He was kidnapped by some old friends of Giovanni's. Does the Darkness ring any bells with you at all?" Cassidy thought for a minute "Yeah I remember them. Madame Boss murdered their leader when she was in charge. Giovanni was convinced that they had reformed and were watching Team Rocket. He had me and Butch do a scout looking for any where likely to be a Darkness hang out about two years ago" "Did you find anywhere?" Jesse asked hopefully. "No and Giovanni forgot all about them after that. Are you sure they've got James?" "Officer Jenny seemed certain of it" Cassidy remembered things Giovanni told them about the Darkness and how ruthless and evil they were. They tortured their victims and did unspeakable things to people who crossed them. But this was stuff that Jesse would not want to hear. Cassidy sighed and told Jesse to come back to the flat with her so they could talk some more. She didn't know why she didn't tell Jesse to get lost. James was not their problem anymore but Cassidy for some reason wanted to help them again. Maybe it was because she still felt partly responsible for what happened to James. "We have to wait for my friends" Jesse was saying next. "I told them I'd meet them back by the jeep in five minutes" "You have friends?" Cassidy asked. Jesse ignored the dig. "Meowth is here with our neighbour Cally. She's really great not even you could hate her Cass" Cassidy rolled her eyes and followed Jesse back to the jeep. What the hell was she doing getting involved with them all again. Jesse and James were nothing but bad luck. Butch was not going to be happy when he found out.
Jesse hurried away from the police station with Meowth racing behind her. "Jesse where do yous tink yous are going?" he shouted as he ran. Jesse ignored him and once she was back at the cottage she ran upstairs and started putting some clothes into her backpack. "Jessica!" Meowth yelled. He had never used her full name before and this finally got Jesse's attention. "What da hell are yous doing?" "I am going to find my James" Jesse shouted back clenching her fists as she spoke. "No one messes with him and when they do they have to answer to me".
Meowth took a step back. He had never seen Jesse so angry but through the anger he saw pain in her eyes. This was reminding her of what happened last time. Jesse loved James so much and didn't want to loose him. Meowth was terrified of history repeating itself too and what Jenny told them had brought him close to tears but the police were the only ones in a position to help. What could he and Jesse do alone? "How are yous going ta do dat?" Meowth asked placing a paw on her arm. "He could be any where Jess." "Butch and Cassidy" Jesse replied determinedly. "What do ya want with dose two?" Meowth demanded. He hated those two with a passion for as long as he could remember and what they did to him (through they redeemed themselves by helping Jesse and James) was something that Meowth would never forgive. Getting mixed up with those two was a very bad idea. "They were Giovanni's favourites. They must know more about this gang that have James" Jesse explained. "They helped me once maybe they will again" This did make sense to Meowth. Butch and Cassidy were two of Giovanni's most trusted agents at one point. They were the only ones that would know where to find this gang. "Ok" Meowth said. "But I'm coming too. Yous are right Jess. Dey mess with one of us den dey mess with all of us. We're still a team and we hafta stick together" "Thank you" Jesse said hugging the cat. She started sobbing into his fur. Normally Meowth would have screamed at her for getting him wet but Jesse needed someone right now so he was happy to comfort her. At last Jesse released him. "I'll make arrangements for Arbok, Wobbuffet and Weezing to be transferred to Mondo at Pokemon tech. He'll look after them. I couldn't find Victreebell so I'm assuming that James has him with him". "Wait" Meowth said. "We might need back up. Keep hold of da Pokemon Jess. Dis could turn ugly ya know. And we'll also need transport". Jesse was glad Meowth was coming. She had been so absorbed in going to rescue James that she hadn't thought of how they were going to travel. "And do ya know where Butch and Cassidy are?" Meowth added as an after thought. "Celadon City" Jesse replied. "Mondo told me" "Right but we need a car," Meowth said. "Cally" Jesse said without hesitating. Meowth shot her a look. "She's our friend too," Jesse added. "We've been keeping her in the dark too long Meowth." "If your sure" he said. "I am" Jesse said and with that she grabbed her backpack and she and Meowth locked up the cottage and hurried down the road to Cally's house.
James looked up as the woman he had seen before entered the room. She smiled slightly and took a seat on the bed opposite him. "How are you feeling?" she asked compassionately. James shrugged fearfully and looked at the floor. There was something about this woman that frightened him. "I brought you some pain killers for that arm" she said next handing James the packet of Aspirin. "Thank you" "I'm Amber by the way." James wanted to take an Aspirin as his wrist was still very painful but he wanted to keep a clear head. These people, no matter what the pretence Amber was trying to put up, where evil. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt" Amber said next "My guards aren't exactly the smartest guys around. Is there anything you want?" "To go home" Amber shook her head "I cannot let you go home. I'm sorry but I need you" "Why?" "James I make a great friend but a greater enemy" Amber said a little coldly. "Please don't make his any harder than it is" "Why have you got me here?" "Your TM of course. A human learning Future Sight is a very rare thing. My master was intrigued by it" "Your master?" James for some reason thought that Amber was in charge here. "You'd like him, he's like Giovanni" Amber paused seeing the look on James' face "Or maybe not. He doesn't want to hurt you either. We just need your help" James knew this was coming. They wanted him to do viewings for them so they could use him to do evil. Amber was not someone who liked people refusing her James was sure so he knew he had to be careful. "Why do you want my help?" "Let me explain a few things first" Amber said. "I have no pretences about who we are as a gang. Yes we are like Team Rocket in a sense but we have greater ambitions than Team Rocket. My master is not as rich as Giovanni is and we do not have HQ's all over Kanto and Johto as Team Rocket did. We keep a low profile and do not steal Pokemon to make a living. For years, since Madame Boss killed my master's father, we have hidden in this base waiting for the day when we would destroy Team Rocket and Giovanni" "Giovanni is dead" James said. "I know and so we lost our goal. For a time our gang lost its direction but now we have a new goal. If we cannot kill Giovanni then we'll accomplish what he could not. For months we have been searching for the ones Giovanni used in his TM experiments. Now we have found you we want to make a deal. I know that you and your partner have been having problems and I can offer a solution. You help us and my scientists will help you" "I don't need help" "James don't be naïve. I know that Future Sight had driven you and Jesse apart. Help us and my scientists can rid you of the curse Giovanni left you with. Then you and Jesse can go on as normal." James shook his head "It was me that drove me and Jesse apart, not Future Sight" "Think about it James" Amber said softly. "This is a curse left by Giovanni. Wherever you go you will have this. It will be with you until the day you die always reminding you of what happened. You think you can ignore it but you can't. It will never go away James, never" James bit his lip and swallowed hard. Amber had described exactly how he had been feeling since that day at the beach. James wanted more than anything to be rid of Future Sight. That was partly why he had never done a viewing. It frightened him too much and every time he closed his eyes he could picture himself back in the prison with Giovanni forcing him into viewings, viewings that had killed people. James had learned a few months after it happened that the police had got there too late to save the Orange island gym leaders. Giovanni had them killed. Jesse must have kept this knowledge from James so he wouldn't get upset. It hurt so much to think that something he did killed 4 people who he had met when the twerp was in the Orange League. James tried telling himself that he didn't have any choice but there was always a choice. Maybe he should have killed himself rather than obey Giovanni. But his Boss had used the woman he loved against him! No matter what happened James could never have sent Jesse to her death. Amber was right. Those things would never go away. He did them and he no matter how many times he told himself that Giovanni forced him to do it James knew that it had been down to him and him alone. He wanted this cursed TM gone so badly that he actually felt sick inside. James looked up at Amber his tears already falling despite efforts to hold them back. Amber smiled to herself and told James she would be back later. This was working out just fine. It had got James thinking about what he did again. "I don't think I will have any problems at all with this one," she said to herself.
"So you're saying that James can predict stuff?" Cally repeated for the third time. Jesse sighed and nodded. She had hoped Cally would just accept what she was telling her and they could go to Celadon City. "This is amazing" Cally said. "I knew there was something about Jim but I never guessed that he had this kind of talent". "Its not a talent Cally." Jesse snapped, "It's a curse and we have to get going. Every minute we waste they could be torturing him or something". "Of course" Cally said her eyes shining at the thought of being in on the rescue mission. "So why are we going to Celadon City anyway?" "These other two ex rockets live there" Jesse explained going towards the front door. "They were some of the top agents. They'll know more about this gang than the police. Can we take you're car?" "Sure" Cally said. They hurried out the front and found that the Ferrari was gone and in its place was a red jeep a little like the one Mondo used to drive. "I traded my Ferrari in. This is better for the job anyway," Cally explained. "Yous were aloud ta trade it in?" Meowth asked. Cally shrugged "Sure furball. It's no big deal now come on. We've got to get going" The drive to Celadon City only took half an hour but it was the longest half an hour of Jesse's life. She sat in the back of the jeep whilst Meowth sat next to Cally. Jesse had no idea what she was going to say to Butch and Cassidy when they got there and she was terrified that they might not want to help them. When they finally arrived Cally parked the jeep and Jesse realised with some embarrassment that she had no idea where in Celadon City Butch and Cassidy lived. Mondo had just said Celadon and Jesse hadn't given it a second thought. "That's no biggie" Cally said her old cheerfulness returning. "Me and the furball will go and call in at every house and you can go into the town and see if you can spot them. You remember what they look like right?" this last bit was too Meowth. "Yeah I remember alright," Meowth muttered darkly. They split up and arranged to meet up in an hour's time. Jesse wandered round for an hour going into all the shops she imagined that Cassidy might go in. She had no idea where Butch might hang out so she concentrated on looking for Cassidy. For the first time Jesse saw the friendship the two had when they were kids as an advantage. Purely by luck Jesse had been walked passed the café where Cassidy worked when she saw her coming out of it. Cassidy looked deep in thought and when Jesse called out to her she ignored her. Jesse sighed and sprinted after her rival and grabbed her shoulders forcing her to stop. Cassidy shrieked and whirled round. "Shit Jesse what the hell did you do that for?" the orange haired woman cried angrily. "And what the hell are you doing here?" "Shut up" Jesse hissed. "People are staring" she grabbed Cassidy's arm and dragged her inside a shop doorway. "Who the hell do you think you are?" Cassidy snapped. "Scaring me half to death and then dragging me around. Jesse I thought we weren't going to have contact anymore?" "James is missing" Jesse said. "He was kidnapped by some old friends of Giovanni's. Does the Darkness ring any bells with you at all?" Cassidy thought for a minute "Yeah I remember them. Madame Boss murdered their leader when she was in charge. Giovanni was convinced that they had reformed and were watching Team Rocket. He had me and Butch do a scout looking for any where likely to be a Darkness hang out about two years ago" "Did you find anywhere?" Jesse asked hopefully. "No and Giovanni forgot all about them after that. Are you sure they've got James?" "Officer Jenny seemed certain of it" Cassidy remembered things Giovanni told them about the Darkness and how ruthless and evil they were. They tortured their victims and did unspeakable things to people who crossed them. But this was stuff that Jesse would not want to hear. Cassidy sighed and told Jesse to come back to the flat with her so they could talk some more. She didn't know why she didn't tell Jesse to get lost. James was not their problem anymore but Cassidy for some reason wanted to help them again. Maybe it was because she still felt partly responsible for what happened to James. "We have to wait for my friends" Jesse was saying next. "I told them I'd meet them back by the jeep in five minutes" "You have friends?" Cassidy asked. Jesse ignored the dig. "Meowth is here with our neighbour Cally. She's really great not even you could hate her Cass" Cassidy rolled her eyes and followed Jesse back to the jeep. What the hell was she doing getting involved with them all again. Jesse and James were nothing but bad luck. Butch was not going to be happy when he found out.