Disclaimer: Pokemon doesn't belong to me...but I gave them the idea! ...Or maybe not.
Author's Notes: Sorry this chapter also took a long time to get out, but the country I'm living on - Bolivia, was having serious problems: no food, no water and 100,000 people had paralyzed the city so I hope you understand why I couldn't get out this chapter sooner (I couldn't go to one of those places that have Internet - since I still don't have it). This was supposed to be part of the third chapter, but it grew too big. So I decided to split it in two. I'm glad I decided that. Also the 'R' rating will be applied soon enough (though I think some chapters can be better applied the 'PG-13' label, but tell me if it deserves another rating in a review if you think so). I won't be able to write the fifth chapter too much this week or the next because I have lots of school project due this time. So I hope this long chapter can make up for the long wait (it's almost the same length from chapter 3 - over 10,000 words but it's still longer than the first 2 chapters ).
Important Note: By the way...from now on this sign ~ means a different character perspective on the same place and time. The * still remains as a different character perspective on a different time and/or place.
Reckless Streak
8:23 P.M
Cassidy and Butch turned around quickly to face the spy who overheard their conversation, with a mix of fear and anxiety. It wasn't Giovanni - thank goodness. Nor any Team Rocket member or a Psychic Pokemon. It was a tall figure dressed in a black coat that hid its feet, and the rest of its body was also well concealed. Its face and head was covered in a silver mask that had no eye holes, which Butch thought as very bizarre. There was nothing else to describe it - only his long cloak and mask that veiled its features. Butch asked himself inwardly how it could've found the hidden Team Rocket establishment hidden behind a restaurant and how it could've passed the guards without alarm.
Butch took out his pistol that was hidden in a back pocket of his pant with a sudden wrist movement. "Tell us who you are and what rank you are placed in... and I may let you live," Butch demanded in a threatening tone.
The figure didn't move or tremble. In fact, it didn't show any sign that it could see Butch or heard him. Butch was a bit fazed that his threat didn't impact the intruder.
"You should be the one to feel frightened," the cloaked thing said. It had a deep, piercing voice that echoed around the room yet, strangely, Butch couldn't actually pinpoint exactly if it was male or a female.
Butch pressed the trigger fired at it with such an explosion of sound that he wondered if Cassidy was now a bit doubtful that the room was soundproof.
The bullet headed directly to its intended target at an incredible speed that the human eye could barely observe in time. The bullet headed directly to the heart of the cloaked figure, but the bullet didn't bury into its skin. It remained immobile for a second or two, suspended in air, and dropped down with a disheartening thud.
Butch was completely terrified. The spy wasn't hurt in any way and it was still standing there - like a dark shadow. Fear was gripping Butch's heart tightly with cold hands, yet his heart still pounded wildly in his ribcage with furious horror. His mouth was unable to produce any single coherent word and it took several failed attempts to say his next sentence. Butch tried to keep his panic to the minimum.
"What do you want?"
It moved, or slithered, or floated - he couldn't quite distinguish - in front of Butch. He stepped back several feet away from it in fear, yet the figure kept coming closer until it cornered Butch. Its silver-masked face was very close to his and it answered.
"I want your help."
Butch's heart slowed down considerably, yet he was still very frightened of the tall, masked figure. If it wanted his help it meant that it wouldn't kill him - at least Butch hoped desperately. Cassidy was at a reasonably safer distance from it and Cassidy also relaxed but almost immediately she was tense again as the masked figure turned its head towards her for a moment. It immediately snapped its head to Butch when it heard his question.
"In what?" Butch asked weakly.
The figure backed off and moved around in small circles - to the great comfort of Butch. After it stopped moving, it whispered in a low voice full of command. "I want you to attack the Pokemon Center."
The silence that followed his request was one that deaf always hear.
"Excuse me?" Cassidy asked unbelievably in a foolishly affronting voice.
It confronted her in a sudden flash, its robes rippling in undead air. "Is something wrong with my idea?" it asked in a chilling voice that froze Cassidy's heart for a second. She visibly gathered up her courage and spoke.
"What kind of profit could we gain attacking there? Exposing ourselves unnecessarily for a bunch of Pokemon that we already have in immense quantities. Almost all 350 species. So why should we? It is an absurd suggestion," Cassidy once again, met squarely against the menacing figure with boldness that impressed Butch.
The masked thing laughed coldly in her ear. "I'll tell you a good reason. If you won't do it I'll kill you both in such a gruesome and painful death that even your puny minds could never imagine- " Cassidy trembled at this but it wasn't finished speaking. "-and you might find something that will help you enormously in your appealing task of overthrowing your boss. Also, be aware of the fact that I can tell your boss your little secret if you fail or refuse my demand. But if that still doesn't convince you..." it went over to the large desk and placed both of its covered hands (at least Butch thought that) and a large mound of bills appeared. It covered the entire desk and Butch was unable to conceal the delight on his face.
"I hope you are rethinking my plan." If they could've seen its face it would've been smiling. Cassidy approached the desk cautiously and touched the mound with precaution, as though the bills would burst into fire at any second. When she saw no danger she picked up all the bills she could carry and throw it in the air in happiness.
The figure turned to face them both. "This large pile of money is a small bonus for doing me this *favor*. I won't reclaim it back if you flounder your mission. But - don't think I'll turn a blind eye if you fail to attack the Pokemon Center the way I want you to. Punishment goes to those who deserve it, and it's the only thing I like to do after a miscarried mission," he whispered in a deadly tone.
"Why do you want us to assault the Pokemon Center in the first place?" Cassidy, of course, asked.
It turned around to answer her. "That is my own business." It spoke in a voice clearly saying not to pry for more information. Cassidy didn't say anything else.
"And what exactly is the thing that will help us in our goal? And how can it help us?" Butch questioned, hoping it wouldn't get angry at him.
The cloaked thing didn't turn to answer him but kept moving and checking everything in the room. The air had a bone-shaking coldness; Butch rubbed his hands together so his hands wouldn't freeze.
"It will help you in impelling Giovanni from the organization he created. He won't be easy to kill, I'll tell you that - that man won't let anyone take control of his life-long success. If you manage to kill him, then from that point forward it should be relatively easy to take over everything. And what exactly is it? Well...bring me back the thing you *think* will accomplish Giovanni's death and I will give you more riches than any other person in the world. But you must bring me something or I'll immediately think it as failure."
It headed towards the door, but stopped before crossing it. "I expect you to attack the Pokemon Center tonight - it would be the perfect time. But don't think I won't come back...I have a natural ability to appear at the most inopportune times, always unnoticed. I might not come back tomorrow, or the day after - but I will come." It whispered and without another notice it vanished.
Once they both were sure that it had gone, they sighed in relief. "So...what should we do?" Butch asked in a very low voice still containing terror.
Cassidy eyed the pile of money with a big smile. "Why do we have to do it anyway? We have no good reason to ask the other members to attack the Pokemon Center. No reason at all. Besides, we still have this pile of money all for ourselves..." she grinned ambitiously. But as soon as those words escaped her lips she felt as if her whole body was covered in burning ice. Cassidy couldn't move a single muscle or bone in her body; she tried to scream for help but her jaws were frozen solid and her mind became so numb she couldn't even remember how to speak.
"You were saying?" the cloaked thing spoke in a booming voice, though it was nowhere in sight.
"She was mistaken. We will do it," Butch said to all of the walls, hoping it could hear him, hoping that it would stop torturing Cassidy. There was a panicked, eternal silence in which Butch hoped the thing will return the full control of Cassidy's body.
Cassidy wasn't prepared for the sudden control of her body, so she fell hard and landed painfully on her chin. She got up and flexed all the limbs in her body with great alleviation, yet she - Butch though - must've felt stupid at the mistake that could've caused her more than a temporary paralysis.
"Don't ever make me angry again or I'll make sure you never move your body again," it whispered only to Cassidy, but when she turned around it wasn't there. "I made sure the Pokemon Center has a holographic projector around it which displays a peacefully quiet Pokemon Center to any curious passersby. It will conceal any violent activities from them, it is almost impossible to see through it. The projector is only activated tonight and will deactivate tomorrow, but it will also deactivate if you abort the mission or fail it. I expect success."
And with that final declaration it left, leaving Cassidy and Butch in a stunned, muted atmosphere.
***
8:49 P.M
Mark didn't calculate the hours that Misty passed in that padded cell with him. He cried all that time, unabashed at showing his agony. She comforted him, murmured words of hope and promised him to get him his freedom. Yet Misty sometimes looked preoccupied at the oddest of times when she thought no one was looking. But Mark watched all these moments without letting her know. He wondered why she was so troubled - though he had to laugh inwardly at this. Any normal girl would be apprehensive with a prisoner.
Misty was currently hugging the whimpering man, who was huddled in a corner, yet, Mark didn't oppose or attack Misty in any way. He even cried less and less each minute that passed, and buried himself into Misty's warm embrace, the only thing that kept him from breaking down into insanity - a fact that Misty didn't know.
After all of the agonizing hours in that awful cell that seemed to get close and smaller each time Mike stared at it. He was so lonely...so afraid, but Misty soothed and healed some of his painful wounds. She gave him faith, something that he thought he lost forever. Words couldn't express the gratitude and happiness that she offered him selflessly.
His own family gave up on him. He had seen their tears of shame and betrayal. They turned their back on him; left him abandoned and cold at the mercy of the hateful fate. Yet Misty, such a young girl, saved him before it was too late - before despair consumed him totally. Mark almost believed he could be totally free and secure - feelings that were almost forgotten, buried at the back of his mind. But those feelings were returning, ever so slowly, but they were.
Mark lost himself in one of his anguishing memories. He knew perfectly well he couldn't go back to his family. Those backstabbers left him here to rot, to be absorbed by the loneliness and regret of his thoughts.
Mark finally believed that he didn't do it. Because if he really killed all those people, then a 16-year old wouldn't even take pity on him, even less, comfort him. He was more than suspicious, he had to admit that. Why would she soothe a criminal in his own cell, even if he was innocent? Yet his gratefulness was greater than his suspicion.
'Misty': Mark knew he would remember that name forever. She gave him things that even his own family couldn't provide him in Mark's hardest time - but...why? Any normal girl her age wouldn't even think of cheering up a murderer, even worse - a man who is 12 years older than her, nor have taken the great risk of getting caught by the police. It was such a mystery...he couldn't even begin to comprehend it. Mark couldn't believe that such a generous and kind soul could even exist. Egoistic, that is how people are - even from the very beginning, stealing another person's food when they're hungry, ruling the land of the weak and powerless to gain more authority, cheating off the money of the poor, there is always a trace of selfish self-interest in every human being...yet, there seemed to be an exception...
Misty stopped hugging him and stood up abruptly. The confusion and disappointment on his face was not lost on Misty. She seemed to have regret in her eyes and Mark was starting to get worried. Had he been wrong to think that Misty was an open-hearted person?
Misty sighed, then turned to him. "I got to go..."
Mark's disappointment was even more obvious to Misty's eyes than ever. He felt sad, lost but most of all: anger. Was she going to abandon him now - just like his family? Mark had shared his pain and frustrations with her... and she was going to desert him, just like everyone he had loved and cherished. His resentment, fury and depression were bubbling dangerously on the surface of his mind. Mark twisted his face towards her with tears he was unable to hide. "Are you going to give up on me?" he whispered bitterly, his tears descending quietly.
"Of course not! I'm not going to abandon you...it's just that - I can't free you today..." she said remorsefully, but Mark wasn't hearing any of it.
"Bullshit! Just say it outright if you have the courage. Say that you're going to leave me and never come back. I'd feel less grief if you admit it..." he finished in a low voice to avoid showing more sorrow. But his face couldn't conceal that emotion very well.
"No! I swear I'm coming back, please believe me! I just have to rethink my plan...I need a solid scheme to get you outta here. If they find me here - then there won't be any chance at rescuing you!" Misty screamed, but Mark just had to smile sourly. Her excuses to get out of his cell were a tad bit amusing in a distasteful kind of way.
"You don't need to waste false explanations. Please just say that you'll desert me...I don't want bogus hopes at seeing you again..." he tried to hide his face on the mattress of his filthy bed. Mark wasn't comfortable at showing his tears ever again.
"Fine. I'll give you some proof that I'm really coming back." At this affirmation, Mark's eyes turned automatically to Misty, a faint glitter of belief shone in his eyes. She took out a Poke Ball from her backpack and presented it to him. "This is my Goldeen. I took care of it since I was 8, she was the first Pokemon I ever captured. Do I need to show you any more confirmation that I'm coming back?" she said cheerfully.
Mark was absolutely startled. He tried to stand up to se her eyes even more clearly, searching for a sign - any sign that showed that Misty was lying. To his amazement and joyfulness there was none.
"Ma-maybe there is no Pokemon inside," he stuttered a pretext, to avoid feeling trust and confidence in this girl.
Without another word, Misty threw the Poke Ball to the ground and Goldeen appeared, flapping on the floor unable to do more on land. Mark was once again flabbergasted. It just couldn't be...
"Will you really leave your Goldeen behind?" Optimism was blooming in his heart and he thought it was safer if it withered before it took control of his heart. Mark's tears were drying up despite himself.
"Yes - I'm really going to leave Goldeen. Only because you won't believe I'll come back," she grinned at him for the first time. It was a sweet smile full of open honesty and all of his trust poured out as he returned the smile.
"You wouldn't give me your Goldeen...unless you were coming back, right?" He questioned timidly. Misty nodded and Mark's smile grew larger.
"Where can I hide my Goldeen? Someplace where the guards will never think to look at," she asked and Mark immediately tried to move towards the bed.
"Under here - under the bed. There is a loose wooden plank where you can safely put Goldeen." Mark and Misty lifted the heavy mattress (though Mark couldn't help too much) and she returned Goldeen back into her Poke Ball and hid it under the plank. They put the disgusting mattress back to its normal place.
They both stared at each other's eyes for a long moment. Mark couldn't believe there was someone he could count on. It made his heart beat a little bit faster in merriment.
Misty turned towards the door and smiled once again. "I won't be back tomorrow, or the day after - and maybe not for a while. But I will come back," she assured him.
Mark took one long look at her before she closed the door. But Mark was confident she was coming back - that hope was planted firmly in his heart. He went over to the bed and laid on its repugnant long mattress. But he was smiling in pure blessedness. Mark finally had something to cling expectedly, something to fill him with delight in the horrible nights to come.
And that night he slept well. Only filled with serene dreams.
~~~
Misty smiled to herself after she closed the door quietly. Mark was in a much better state of mind now, and she was sure that he would remain like that with Goldeen at his side. She hoped that Goldeen wouldn't get too angry at her for thinking that Misty abandoned her. Goldeen was the thin lifeline Mark had now and she trusted Goldeen at that task.
Misty trusted him. She didn't know why, but she did. Even if the man had evil intentions to keep Goldeen he couldn't escape by himself out of his cell. But despite the possible consequences, Misty knew that Goldeen was in good hands.
She got the keys out of her pocket and locked the door as quietly as she could. If the police knew that it was unlocked when they went to Mark's cell they would be immediately suspicious.
Misty got out of white-walled room and also locked it softly. She was about to head for the stairs when she heard some voices that made her freeze.
"It's dinnertime Bob! Bring the cart over to Sebastian's cell. Pick the most unappealing plate you got - I hate that bastard." One of the policemen that had come out of the farthest door on the hallway, called over to his friend who was on the other side of it.
Misty his behind the plant she had been earlier. Fear took over her as she saw the still unconscious police officer she knocked out earlier. If he woke up or the other policemen saw him...she was finished.
One police guy had a cart with racks of plates filled with food. The one who was waiting for his friend picked up one of the plates with his hand and chuckled so loudly that even Misty could hear. He took out some keys and opened one of the rooms that - Misty thought - would lead to Sebastian's room. The man with the cart followed him inside.
This was Misty's chance and was about to head to the stairs when another sound stunned her more than the police officers at the end of the hallway.
"Ugg...uhh - my head..." the police cop that was unconscious moments before was returning back to consciousness. His eyes opened a bit and had a glazy gaze to it.
"Is that you Margaret?" the policeman asked Misty, who obviously couldn't see well right away.
Misty sprinted up the stairs before he could get a good look at her. Fear and anxiety propelled her with extra speed. After she went up all those stairs, Misty was back again to the room with the stairs. She could go outside , there were more doors and possibilities of escape in the hallway - but police officers could be swarming right outside. Misty couldn't go down - obviously. There was only one choice - go upstairs.
Misty was aware that there could be cops upstairs, but she believed that she had a better chance that in the hallway. She took each step with careful slowness and after a while Misty was finally upstairs.
There was another long hallway (to Misty's bad fortune) but without any doors except one that was all the way in the back.
Misty carefully walked, her footsteps echoed throughout the whole hallway to her ears, and went over to the door and opened it with mounting trepidation. It was a large office - but Misty didn't have time to check it out. The only important thing was that no one was there. But a muffled conversation of the other side of a door Misty didn't notice before, corrected her.
It was too muffled to eavesdrop but she could make out 'Goldenrod' as one of the words. But that didn't matter. Only two things were of importance now: 1)Find an exit.2) Hope the man keeps talking.3) Escape.
Misty desperately went to one of the windows - maybe she could jump out if it wasn't too high.
Misty looked down and with alarm she noted that it was a 20-feet drop. She would never make it - unless...
"Staryu, go." she called out in a whisper. Staryu was about to say something when Misty silenced him desperately.
"Quiet Staryu. If they hear us we're done for." She whispered angrily. Misty pointed the long drop. "Could you descend us slowly with your Water Gun attack? It's going to be tough but I have faith in your abilities." Staryu shone his ruby in happiness. "I'll jump out of the window grabbing hold on you and you'll use your Water Gun on the wall outside next to the window to propel us as far away as possible. Then, use it on the ground to slow our descent. It's going to be hard - but I'm counting on you."
Misty opened the window as noiselessly as possible. She looked down again and had to fight her nausea; she was afraid of heights. Misty took a strong grip on Staryu and faced her back to the window so Staryu could shoot his Water Gun to the wall of the building. The night air was cool against her sweaty skin and the moon shone the ground with an eerie light. With a great amount of bravery she never knew she had - Misty jumped.
Her yell was loud enough to wake up the dead, but Staryu was ready. He pointed his Water Gun to the wall on the right side of the window and with a blast of powerful, clear water they were shot backwards 30 feet away from the building. The air whipped around Misty's hair like a strong hurricane until it stopped suddenly.
They began to fall to the ground; the floor was getting too large and Misty, in her frightened state of mind, was closing her eyes in a dazed trance - not considering the danger she was putting herself in by doing that. The abrupt stop to the fall woke Misty up to her senses. Staryu had used its Water Gun on the floor below, slowing their descent, but after a few seconds, its red ruby was soon sparkling on and off dangerously and his Water Gun was weakening with each second.
Misty wanted to say encouraging words to him but her mind and mouth were no longer linked at that second. Her horror had numbed her brain completely - Misty couldn't even scream. Through her numbness, Misty could see the fatigue took its call on Staryu and he stopped in exhaustion.
Misty's mind ceased to work and black nothingness filled her vision. She was unconscious for a second or two until she hit the floor. Misty landed on her arm, that with a resounding sound, cracked under her whole body weight, including the impact of the fall. Some of her ribs on her right side - the side in which she fell on, split in two. Staryu fell alongside her on his ruby and she tried to call him through her painful daze. Maybe his ruby shattered - she couldn't see through all the blur of colors.
After she landed on her arm and cracked some of her ribs, she began rolling down. Sharp rocks cut through her clothing and split her skin into deep wounds. The ground itself was unforgiving and scratched all of Misty's body like sharp knives. Dust filled her nostrils until she couldn't breathe properly. Her head crashed through several rocks, at least that's what it felt like. The swirl of colors - though red was the principal one, was nauseating to Misty and unconsciousness was like some kind of unreachable prize. After several agonizing seconds of rolling down, she laid on a broken heap at the bottom of the hill.
Misty tried to open her eyes but it was too difficult. Her eyes watered as dirt entered her aquamarine eyes. She felt as if a bulldozer went over her several times to make sure every single bone in her body was broken. Her cloudy eyes could note a lot of red around her. The red was so painful...she wanted it to stop hurting her. Misty's eye sight grew a bit clearer and she could see that the red color was all her blood that was seeping from her chest and arm. The broken bones were explicitly agonizing and breathing was a very hard task. Apparently destiny didn't favor her by bringing her blissful unconsciousness, something that she wanted desperately.
With trembling arms, she was able to lift her body enough to see where Staryu was. Staryu was surrounded by millions of sparkling ruby-red pieces that shone in the moonlight. He wasn't moving.
Misty wanted to ask him if he was ok, but her vocal chords weren't working properly. Misty had enough energy to raise her good arm and point the Poke Ball to where Staryu lay wounded. "Return," she managed to croak. Staryu didn't say anything when he was enveloped in a bright red light. Now Misty had one less thing to worry about.
She tried to stand up, but Misty's feet seemed to be made of jelly and she had to lean against a tree to regain her energies and breath.
The Pokemon Center was a long way off and in her current state it seemed to be millions and millions of miles away. Misty walked sluggishly to a road that she thought led to the Pokemon Center. Her blood dripped down her yellow shirt and soaked her blue shorts. Yet through her dim mind, Misty didn't worry about it - like it was just red paint splattered accidentally on her clothes.
Misty occasionally grabbed a nearby tree trunk to regain her balance. The world was made of swirls and the darkness of night didn't help her. Was she going the right way or not? The path split into three more roads - that was strange, since Misty thought she had taken a single road. Misty looked up wearily at the sky and saw more stars than usual, and didn't Earth have only one moon? About 6 moons were up tonight, and this made Misty laugh. She didn't know why - it wasn't even funny, but she was laughing hysterically, which made the pain in her ribs almost to unbearable levels. She looked up again and saw even more stars than the last time she looked up and the moons kept moving around in circles. Misty laughed even more - she didn't know moons could move.
Misty chose one of the dozen roads that kept moving, but it was sort of fun to follow them. Misty was absolutely sure she was going the right way. Why would the road multiply and move like that if they weren't trying to show her the right way? And the little black, dancing spots also were helpful in showing her the right path. But they kept moving and getting larger each minute that Misty didn't know where to follow them.
Cold sweat was breaking on her forehead and the black spots were getting bigger and bigger and were almost obscuring her whole vision. They were being way too helpful for Misty's taste.
Then Misty realized what kind of aid the black spots were trying to give her. These black spots were attempting to bring her to unconsciousness.
And Misty accepted their help.
***
9:22 P.M
"I think 20 of our men will suffice, don't you think?" Cassidy asked Butch, as she flipped her long blue hair over her shoulder. The things she had to do to gain money, but she smiled secretly to herself - attacking the local Pokemon Center was going to be very simple. With the hologram projector that will cover their backs and their group of professional, personally chosen Rockets will make this mission easier than taking candy from a baby.
"I still say that we bring more of our men just to be on the safe side. Who knows how many Pokemon trainers are staying at the Pokemon Center tonight?" Butch said for the millionth time. Butch's advices to stay on the safe side were starting to annoy Cassidy. Stay on the safe side...they had had hundreds of other missions that were much harder than this one - yet this was the first time Butch recommended precaution tips. That was strange coming Butch since he was an action-now-questions-later type of guy and never really planned on any mission - that was the job of the strategy counselor.
"What's up with you Butch? You've been saying the same thing over and over again for the last hour. What's the matter Butch, you've never been this way." Cassidy prodded him for an answer. It was bewildering to her that Butch wore a worried expression on his face - he only showed it if the mission they were in was failing - never before one.
Butch bit his lip nervously - now Cassidy was the one to look troubled. Butch had never done that.
"Well...I just have this feeling that this attack won't be as uncomplicated as it seems," Butch bit his lip even harder and furrowed his brow. Very weird.
"How hard can an invasion to the Pokemon Center be?" Cassidy asked exasperatedly. "Even if there were many trainers sleeping tonight in the Pokemon Center, our hand-picked members could easily take them out with their high level Pokemon. We have more than the necessary equipment to take about 100 ordinary Pokemon trainers. I still don't see what you worry about, Butch. We had so many other missions that were much harder than this simple task. You know...to tell you the truth Butch, you're acting like a wimp - and I've always hated wimps," Cassidy sneered, knowing that her remark will bring Butch back to his old self.
Butch snapped his head rapidly, mouth open ready to retort, but he changed his mind in the last second and closed it. Butch never passed the opportunity to throw Cassidy a witty remark and this just incremented Cassidy's worries for him - not like she'd ever admit that she was preoccupied about him. That would be incredibly degrading.
"Let's just go check that everything's ready - shall we, Cassidy?" And without any other word Butch went to the other room. He was really getting to Cassidy's nerves today. She knew Butch was just being paranoid, but the point was...Butch was never paranoid.
Cassidy went to the room Butch just went in and closed the door quietly. The room was very different from the other one Cassidy and Butch had been moments before. The size of it was pretty small in comparison to the official meeting room in the Team Rocket headquarters, nevertheless, it was still one of the biggest rooms in that particular Blackthorn headquarter. This was the 'Ammo Room' as the rest of the members named.
It was filled with shelves and shelves with every kind of gun in every imaginable shape. Boxes of explosives were stacked in huge numbers. There were more potent weapons, but they were placed in another room next to the 'Ammo Room'. The titanium door was five inches thick with a big 'KEEP OUT. DANGEROUS. DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU HAVE PERMISSION' sign placed next to it. There was also a diminutive, metallic, round-shaped machine that resembled an eyehole that scanned the eye of the person who wanted to enter. If you didn't have permission, but placed your eye anyway, the little machine shot you with a strong electrical current directly to your eyes that spread throughout your body. It would leave you blind for about four days and temporary nerve damage.
There were approximately about 20 members inside the Ammo Room. The people who were assigned personally by Butch and Cassidy for this *easy* task - well at least in Cassidy's opinion.
Each member had to carry one small pistol with him or her for protection. But they could only use it in a very extreme situation they couldn't escape from. They were forbidden to kill anybody - if people turned up dead at the Pokemon Center from one day to the other without any witnesses seeing anything unusual from outside, the police would surely begin to investigate and possibly find the Blackthorn Team Rocket headquarters.
The 20 members had the usual weapons with them. Smoke grenades, Grappling Hooks, Unbreakable Nets, Sleeping Gas, Specialized masks to prevent inhaling smoke, Tranquilizer Darts, Clubs, Night Vision Goggles, Sprays, Light-Sensitive Glasses etc...Along with the uniforms they always wore on any task. The suits were all Water-proof, Shock-proof, Fire-proof, though they were simplest of Team Rocket uniform. They were now wearing it - but it was more than enough. But there were more modern uniforms that were reserved for missions with a level of more difficulty.
Butch was the only member who was carrying more than the necessary equipment - it made Cassidy even more irritated. He was carrying extra of all the usual weapons with some additional ones like Paralysis Bombs, Some real explosives (Cassidy thought it was too exaggerated) and some other stuff she didn't know about.
"Line up, now!" Cassidy ordered in a demanding voice, once she was sure everybody got all they needed.
Everyone immediately lined up in a straight line. They all tried to look perfectly passive and to stay as humanly still. Butch stood alongside Cassidy in total silence. She went over to the first member who was trembling slightly. In other occasions she wouldn't have even thought about bringing trash like him, but she was also responsible for the training of the new Rocket Cadets - anyway, this mission was simple enough.
"Do you have Smoke Grenades, Cadet?" she barked at him. He flinched at her scream, and showed her some smoke grenades in a special backpack. Cassidy continued to order him to show every item he was supposed to carry and approved much to the Cassidy's amazement. After she checked him, Cassidy went to check every member. Almost everyone had everything with them, except two idiots that forgot some of the essential and almost wet their pants at Cassidy's screams.
"Now that we're all set, my companion will kindly show you how exactly we're going to enter the Pokemon Center, Butch?" And without a word he took out a large picture of the Pokemon Center with signs and symbols scrawled all over it.
"Ok, this is what we're going to do. The Pokemon Center security will be very easy to pass, but what we need to worry about is how to enter without being noticed by passersby. This is also quite simple but it is also the hardest part since we have some rookie Rockets among us..." and she sneered in their direction. "I also hope that you've all changed you appearances like me and Butch did. It is essential in case the police find us, though Blackthorn policemen are known to be one of the worse trained in capturing criminals and they don't have a scientific lab to investigate complicated clues at a close range. They are also known to be corrupt...only a few of these-," Cassidy held up several dollar bills. "- and they can drop the case. But better be safe than sorry I always safe." Butch snorted very loudly at this, some Rocket members tried to - unsuccessfully - hide their laughter. Cassidy's anger at Butch was almost about to be released but she contained herself.
She coughed loudly to regain their attention. It caught their attention fully - like her cough was a gun going off. Their muffled laughter ceased and they immediately fell silently. Cassidy had to smile despite herself - she loved the control she had over them.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by all of you - " Many of them gulped in fear as she said this. " - It would be pretty easy to do this, even to the new Team Rocket members. But we must not fail this mission. We have sources that a rare Pokemon with extraordinary powers resides inside of the Pokemon Center." Cassidy wasn't actually telling them the truth, yet it wasn't a complete lie. She supposed the thing that will overpower Giovanni had to be a powerful Pokemon. What else could it possibly be?
"We arrive from a normal van and then, we will enter from the roof of the Pokemon Center. There is an unprotected window with no security whatsoever. Then I bet there is a simple burglar alarm installed near the main desk - our most experienced members should know how to find it and deactivate it..." If they failed in this particular task...Cassidy would personally punish them severely. "...We have to go to a room where they keep all the Pokemon in their PokeBalls. All marked with its gender, species and trainer so they won't mix up - too foolish if I say so myself. There should be the PokeBall with the Pokemon we're looking for inside. If not, then we have no choice than waking up each trainer and making them show us their Pokemon - I do hope we don't get to that extreme, even if our Pokemon could handle them single-handedly. We get out with our Grappling Hooks through the same window and escape from the van. There is a secret passageway from the ground that will activate only with Team Rocket vehicles, it will scan the tires and let us in, directly back to our Headquarters. Any questions?" She arched her eyebrows upwards in silent question. A pestering guy raised his hand.
"What is it?" Cassidy couldn't contain her annoyance in check.
"Well...how come we didn't have more preparations? We should've planned something this big at least a whole day. But we had only less than two hours to prepare everything. Don't you think that's a bit rash?" The bold guy asked while others muttered silently, asking themselves the same questions and wondering if Cassidy would punish the man.
She looked at him like he was something that came out of a garbage can. "We have a temporary Hologram Projection Device that will conceal us only for today and will not work tomorrow or any other time other than tonight - I think it's unnecessary to plan for such a length of time when the principal part of our operation has been placed before. Is there another question in mind?" she asked in a voice full of thinly-veiled irritation.
"Err...no, ma'am," the guy said in a very low, puny voice, contrasting with the bold question he asked a second earlier.
"Very well. As there's no more questions I think the mission should start immediately." Cassidy motioned them to get to their positions. Their was a bustle of hurried footsteps and the silent obedience of the Rockets. Once everyone had left behind except Cassidy and Butch, she immediately turned her head in his direction.
"Are you coming or not?" she questioned him icily and left the room. Butch followed her soon after, but just before snarling in affirmation to her question.
Everyone arrived at an underground station that made the room they were previously in look like a broom cupboard. Its gigantic proportions held many Team Rocket cars and vehicles of different sizes. A small lake was at the left part of the station where there were several motorboats. The lake extended to a small, dark cave where Cassidy couldn't see beyond. The boats were only used on evacuation of the whole building in case an emergency of great magnitude happened. It was an underground river that led directly to Lake Rage where the nearest hidden base was.
There were also jets and planes that varied in power and size. They used it on missions that needed to be done in long distances. They used a special camouflage technology 'Shadow Stealth' to fly undetected by any kind of radar and it also offered almost complete invisibility from any civilian.
But they were going to use a seemingly normal van that had enough space to accommodate everyone inside. Cassidy and the rest of them would obviously be a little squeezed-up, but that was just a minor inconvenience that would've bothered her in a mission with less importance.
The van didn't have any special trait except the tire-scan that every Team Rocket vehicle had. It was a bit big, yes, but the van looked like a toy van compared to the other more advanced methods of transportation.
Cassidy decided to let Butch drive for this mission, despite his worrying state of mind he was in now - at least in her opinion.
Butch opened the back doors of the van. "Everyone inside." He commanded.
Everybody awkwardly entered inside and tried to find a space to seat themselves. They were all squished together trying to stay still in case any weapon in their bags would go off unexpectedly. Butch went inside to the driver's seat and Cassidy seated herself beside him in the front seat. He took out a silver key from his pocket and placed it in the ignition.
The van began to rumble and Butch pressed the gas pedal and they were off. A long ramp was descending from a hatch on the ceiling that led outdoors. It usually was closed so the street would look normal, but opened up like this so Team Rocket vehicles could go outside. Butch checked a small radar that was alongside the steering wheel.
"No civilian or Pokemon that can see us near this area," Butch said in a monotone voice. Cassidy nodded silently while the van went up the ramp. Once they were outside the ramp began to close up and the street looked as perfectly normal as if there weren't something strange beneath it at all.
The Pokemon Center was not far away from here, it would take only minutes to get there. Everyone was silent while Butch drove at a moderate speed so he wouldn't attract attention. The few civilians that did see them while Butch drove never stopped the van, because of fear or lack of observation, it didn't matter. Butch was driving in secluded streets were not many people lived, and it led directly to the back of the Pokemon Center. Once they finally arrived to their destination Butch quietly got out and opened the back door of the van.
They got out one by one as noiselessly as possible and hid behind a large bush near the wall. Cassidy also got out and took out a grappling hook from her pocket. Everyone including Butch also took one from their backpack. Cassidy pointed it to a ledge on the roof and pressed a button on the grappling hook. A steel object with four, sharp points that was tied around with a long rope, pierced through the wall. Cassidy checked that it would safely stay where it was and would support all her body weight. She grabbed the rope firmly with both of her hands and placed her feet firmly on the wall. The other members and Butch did the same as her. She began climbing up the wall, planting her feet firmly with each step she took upwards. Her hands were starting to ache and blister but she ignored the pain.
Finally, all of them got to the top of the Pokemon Center and surely, there was a wide window there where they could easily enter.
"I'm sure that the hologram projector is working properly so I don't think we need to be cautious anymore," Butch said to some members who were on their stomach crawling slowly. When they heard this, they stood up and dusted themselves off.
"Ok, now this is when the action starts," Cassidy grinned to herself and went to the window. She looked down through the glass and Cassidy could only see the reception desk and some seats. She placed her light-sensitive glasses and turned them on. There was no sign of any red security beams on the window or near the reception desk. She took them off and gave a thumbs-up sign to her team mates.
They all came near the window and Butch took out a small blade that could cut glass without shattering it. Cassidy grabbed it roughly from his grasp and gently cut a circle in the glass big enough to go through it - backpacks and all. She grasped the transparent glass and placed it beside her.
There was a pole near them - perfect for the next step.
Cassidy grabbed a rope from her backpack and tied it around the pole. She tied the other end of the rope around her with several knots. Cassidy went to the window again and lowered herself gently through the hole. She landed inside with a loud thump which she cursed herself inwardly. Soon, Butch was alongside Cassidy and the rest of the members followed their example.
They untied the knots once they were totally inside. The Pokemon Center was dark and it was completely silent except for the light snoring of an extremely fat Chansey, and strangely, no egg on her pouch. Cassidy turned her back on the freak and motioned with her hands to Butch. He nodded once and took out a tranquilizer gun. He pressed on the trigger and a small syringe-type of thing filled with a blue fluid sunk into Chansey's thick skin. The blue liquid entered into Chansey's body and she slumped to the floor in an unnatural sleep.
Like if on cue, a guy with long, blond hair brought out a small laptop. He began typing at a fast speed for several minutes which Cassidy very impatient. Then with a small beep the burglar alarm was deactivated. He smiled smugly and placed his laptop back to his backpack.
Everyone took out their night vision goggles and entered a small doorway labeled 'STAFF ONLY'. On the right side, there was the Emergency Room where they operated the Pokemon; on the far right side there was a room full of medication and bandages. On the left side of them there was a door with no name on it and Cassidy deduced it was Nurse Joy's bedroom. She smirked to herself - maybe one of the perverted guys would like to go there afterwards. And then there was the room they were looking for. The Pokemon Storage Room.
It was locked. Cassidy huffed in annoyance. One small, freckly member took out a small machine that glowed green in the darkness - the Door Opening Device. He placed it on the door knob and after several seconds the door instantly opened with a creak.
There were shelves and shelves of PokeBalls that were all labeled. Everyone began to look at each label. Cassidy grinded her teeth in frustration. Caterpies? Squirtles? Kakunas?! They were all worthless. Some members stared at each other quizzically, silently questioning themselves with their gaze. Some Rockets stuffed some PokeBalls they thought were worth something. But there was no exceptional PokeBall there. The strongest Pokemon they found was a Gyarados that was from a kid from Mahogany.
"Guess we have to wake up the trainers," one of the Rockets whispered to another. Cassidy sighed in defeat and anger when a frightened voice interrupted the silence.
"Wha-wha...what are you do- " Nurse Joy was cut off by a long cloth that made her gag. One of the Rockets had been behind her and was currently tying her hands with wire. Nurse Joy tried to resist but more men surrounded her and tied up her body with wire, rope or tape. Her eyes filled with piteous tears as she tried to shout for help through the cloth in her mouth.
"Lock her up in a closet or something. And don't do anything funny - we have no time for your little games," Cassidy snapped to them while they took Nurse Joy away.
"What do we do now, Cassidy?" asked one of the new Team Rocket cadets. Normally Cassidy punished anybody who spoke to her with informality, but she was too distracted by more important matters than that.
"I think it's time to wake up the sleepy-heads," she said in a voice full of malicious delight. That was their cue as everyone ran to the main reception room. The guys that locked Nurse Joy in a closet also came, but they had disturbing smiles on their faces. Cassidy didn't even want to know what they did to Nurse Joy.
Once everyone was back where the unconscious Chansey was, they moved to the other corridor where the trainers were sleeping.
"To hell with sneakiness." Cassidy said to Butch. With a sigh, he took out some red dynamite sticks and placed it at a safe distance from the rooms; they wanted to wake up the trainers - not kill them, though it would've been fun to blow them sky high.
Butch had a matchstick in his hand and he rapidly lit them all up as fast as he could. The fuse was long but he still needed to light every single one rapidly.
Everyone went as far away from the dynamite sticks as they could; some behind the long reception desk, some cowards actually went outside but still near enough to the Pokemon Center, a strange girl hid behind a plant pot. Everyone went to the nearest cover.
Cassidy was behind the reception desk with several Rocket teammates. Butch soon joined her, out of breath but just as anticipated as Cassidy.
"Wakey, wakey..." Cassidy whispered under her breath, just when the dynamites exploded in a hot, powerful mass of fire and destruction.
***
10:01 P.M
Ash was tired, dizzy, dirty, sick and had a fat Persian on his lap when the plane miraculously arrived on the Blackthorn Airport. His whole flight consisted in one vomiting session after another that never seemed to end. The old lady was the only one who didn't mind the lingering smell of waste - she actually said it reminded her of the smell of the beach in Vermillion City. Ash wondered if the beaches of Vermillion City were made of pee, poop and vomit.
Hey, it had been a while since he was in Vermillion City.
The flight back to Blackthorn was even more uncomfortable than the flight to Pallet. Ash, Pikachu and Shashooka had learned the awful truth in this trip - there were no bathrooms in this plane.
Shashooka had eaten so many rotten Magikarps that he was the first one to be beaten by mother nature. Shashooka wanted to go to a corner, but apparently he couldn't resist that much since the corner was pretty far away and he peed right in front of Ash and Pikachu. Pikachu had moaned at that, reminding him his need to do his necessities. Pikachu had ran behind the Magikarp boxes - thankfully Ash couldn't see this little act. Pikachu had returned with a sigh of satisfaction that disturbed Ash greatly.
The whole plane smelled a whole pack of Donphans had peed, pooped, vomited and then covered themselves with lots of garbage. But nope, the smell was just from a kid, an electric mouse, and an overly fat cat.
Ash couldn't help it to retch that much. The bowl he had used for his vomit bouts was already filled to the brim with his liquid lunch. The old lady *did* give them lunch - fried fish. It reminded Ash too much like the horrid-smelling Magikarp so he declined as politely as he could (it was quite difficult since Ash at that moment wanted to make the old lady suffer like he was).
Instead, Ash ate the squashed blueberry pie his grandma gave him. He had to eat it with his eyes and nose closed, so he couldn't see or smell the revolting plane.
After he ate the whole pie he decided to remain in the position he used to eat his pie. But his lack of oxygen made him breath the nauseating air. The smell reached his nose with such intensity it made his eye pop open - and that's when he couldn't ignore the repugnant material on the floor. His pie that was in his stomach began to sickeningly move up his esophagus. Before Ash could have stopped it, his once delicious blueberry pie had come out with a splat that didn't differentiate with the rest of the floor.
Shashooka, attracted to the squishy blueberry pie, sniffed it once, and not caring that it had come from Ash's stomach, swallowed everything with one lick. But after half an hour the blueberry pie took the toll that the rotten Magikarp could not on Shashooka. Ash really tried to avoid it, he really did but Shashooka was too sick to do anything - and the Persian threw up everything, Magikarp scales and all on Ash. And with a small meow that resembled that of a small Meowth, Shashooka slumped on Ash's lap, unconscious.
Ash didn't have the heart to wake Shashooka up, even if he smelled like an overused bathroom. So Shashooka spent almost the whole trip like this. Ash didn't tell the old woman of Shashooka's current condition; he knew that the old lady would have a heart attack and forget to control the whole plane.
They finally landed on the ground after five hours of extreme suffering. Ash tried to wake Shashooka up but that didn't prove too successful. Next, he tried to haul Shashooka's heavy body, though it was harder than he thought. Shashooka, sleepily licked Ash's face and he had to control the urge to gag. The smell of Magikarp and vomit combined almost left Ash in the same state as Shashooka. Ash had only one option left - tell the old lady about Shashooka.
They were already on the ground so Ash didn't have to worry about falling to his grave. With a sigh of resignation, Ash opened his mouth to speak to her.
"Uh...old lady, err...sir - I mean ma'am..." Ash didn't want to insult the crazy woman. She turned around and looked directly into his eyes.
"Call me Adriana, sonny...Charming ladies my age don't like to feel old," she grinned crookedly, that was just before Adriana noticed her precious Persian sprawled across Ash's lap with his tongue out.
"AHHHHH! What did you do to Shashooka?!!?!" She screamed and launched herself at Ash. Adriana didn't attack him but roughly grabbed Shashooka from Ash's grip with amazing strength.
"Shashooka! Can you hear me, sweetie?!" The old lady asked him desperately. Shashooka slowly opened his eyes. Once he saw who was making such racket, he opened his mouth in a wide yawn and went back to sleep.
"Oh, you're all right!!!" She cried gleefully and hugged Shashooka. The poor Persian's eyes bulged out from their sockets and he started to thrash around, trying to escape the old lady's iron grip hug.
After the old woman stopped crushing poor Shashooka, to the Persian's immense relief, she stared at Ash with furious eyes.
"Wha - I swear I didn't do anything, honest!" Ash frantically told her. The old woman got closer to Ash, and he could once again smell her foul onion breath. Adriana glared at him suspiciously for some time, until Ash couldn't handle her breath any more and turned his head the other way to breathe properly.
The elderly woman immediately smiled in triumph. "HA! The guilt finally got to you. Now spit it out you mangy mongrel!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. Ash felt indignant and angry at that remark, so it wasn't all his fault when the next words escaped his mouth.
"I said I didn't do anything, you stupid old bat! Your Persian just ate something that he shouldn't, though I'm not surprised at his condition - with all that disgusting fish you have onboard!" Ash yelled, not considering the old woman's reaction.
*Now* Adriana was mad. She scooped Shashooka in one arm and the other one was placed in her bony hip.
"How dare you say such things to me you dirty brat!" She shrieked and without any warning, she picked Ash by the collar of his jacket and grabbed Pikachu - who had passed out just like Shashooka - with her other hand.
Ash didn't have time to reply because the old woman threw the both of them out of the plane. Thankfully, they had landed a bit earlier but the fall on hard concrete was still as hard as ever.
"And don't ever come back!" She yelled from inside the plane and a pitiful meow soon followed after that remark. Ash wanted to insult her some more but he would cause more trouble than it was worth. Pikachu woke up brusquely from his fall, but when he opened his eyes Pikachu's face turned an ugly shade of green so he had to close his eyes until Pikachu was sure his stomach's contents were in the right place.
Ash placed an almost unconscious Pikachu on top of his hat and began walking towards the old airport he had been on almost 24 hours ago. The smell of moss and dust reached his nostrils when he opened the splintering, rotten door. The same lazy police woman he met hours before was still painting her nails, but instead of painting her nails magenta she was painting them a lime green color.
"Ah, back so soon?" The police woman stared at him with a hint of interest in her dull, brown eyes. Her jeans were covered in shiny lime nail polish along with several spots of magenta Ash had seen before.
"Yeah," Ash replied simply without another comment. The boredom in the policewoman's eyes returned immediately after his remark, knowing that Ash wouldn't say anything more entertaining.
"Just go through the metal detector, sir," she ordered uninterestedly. Her nails were even more sloppily painted than the other time. She didn't bother removing the magenta nail polish she had painted on and just added the lime nail polish on top of it creating a greenish-brown sort of color.
Ash went through the metal detector that didn't beep this time either, though he was still carrying some coins and a metal key chain. The policewoman didn't give Ash any more interest until he accidentally bumped against her lime nail polish bottle that was near the edge of a small table. The bottle crashed into a thousand glass shards and splattered the police woman's boots.
"Damn it!" She cursed at him, wiping some of the nail polish off her boots with her uniform. Ash hurriedly crossed the room and went to the exit without even offering an apology.
When he was finally outside the airport, Ash sighed with relief. No more monsters and rotten fish. No more vomiting fits or long-lost Persians. No more rundown airports or lazy cops. No more broken nail polish bottles and Pallet Mountains. No more secrets and strange behavior. And best of all...
No more crazy pilots.
Ash grinned to himself. Finally he was back to Blackthorn and his worries finally were behind him. These were Ash's thoughts until he remembered why he came back. Worry was once again planted onto his heart when he remembered reading the newspaper article. 12 people died in a horrible fire a lunatic lit up with gasoline. Thankfully, the guy was safely locked up in a cell, because if Ash ever saw the bastard he would personally kill him.
Ash knew Misty and Brock were ok. They *had* to be ok. Just the thought that his two best friends were hurt made him want to scream. But still, the fire wasn't too far from the Pokemon Center and they could've easily gone for a walk that morning...Ash stopped this trail of thought and almost slapped himself. They were fine and safe inside the Pokemon Center, sleeping soundly in their beds. Period.
A cab was driving slowly near Ash, so he called it over. A gruff-looking cabdriver opened the backdoor and Ash entered nervously.
"To the Pokemon Center across Maufield Roa-" Ash was cut off by the cabdriver.
"There's only one Pokemon Center in Blackthorn, kid," he said snappishly while he stepped on the gas pedal.
"Uh...nice night, eh?" Ash tried to converse to the cab driver, when he felt the cabdriver's eyes on him. The cabdriver grunted in response and continued driving.
Ash scratched behind Pikachu's ears as he looked at the passing scenery. It was mostly a dark blur of trees until they reached the main part of the city. He saw few people out on the streets and all of the stores were closed for the day except a supermarket that flashed a neon sign 'OPEN ALL DAY'.
Something caught his eyes when they were passing the Police Headquarters. An immobile figure that resembled the silhouette of a human was partly hidden by a shrub. He was just able to catch a glimpse of orange that was reflected by the moonlight before he lost sight of it. Ash was about to ask the cabdriver to stop but his anxiousness for the well-being of his friends got the better of him.
Twenty minutes passed before Ash could see the Pokemon Center at a distance. The cab drove nearer and nearer until it stopped at the entrance. Just when Ash was getting out and paying the respective amount of money to the cabdriver something horrible happened. The normal-looking Pokemon Center changed in a blink of an eye.
Ash's eyes widened. Huge clouds of smoke obscured most of the Pokemon Center roof, and through the thick gray smoke Ash could see a large hole that showed trainers sprawled on the ground or others bravely fighting against-
Team Rocket?!
"Call the police! Team Rocket is attacking the Pokemon Center!!!" Ash shouted frantically at the perplexed cabdriver. "Don't you understand?!?!" Ash yelled desperately when the cabdriver didn't do anything.
"Crazy kid, are you drunk or something?" The cabdriver snorted before he drove out of sight, ignoring Ash's furious cries.
"Let's go inside Pikachu," Ash said fearlessly, though Ash dreaded how he would find Misty and Brock. Pikachu quizzically stared at him, then at the Pokemon Center before visibly shrugging. Why didn't anyone see how the Pokemon Center was?!
With an affirmative, "Pika!" Ash and Pikachu entered the Pokemon Center, but the sight that greeted them made them want to rename the building to a more suitable name.
Devil's Hole.
*************
ARGH! I had to cut the chapter once again! I realized that if I didn't it would be more than 18,000 words. I just realized how huge this story is going to be... Please, please, PLEASE! I beg you! Review!!! This takes me a long while to write. I only got 1 review for the other chapter *cries* I know I sound pathetic but it doesn't take long to review. Ok, on with the good soul who reviewed me! :)
lil_washu2: If it weren't for you I would've probably sulked all week! Thanks for the review!!! And to calm your fears...No, I won't do AAML just because everyone else writes it. I liked the shipping for 2 and a half years. Anyway as much as I love it, in this fic it may not end with that pairing. It will contain AAML but I've just thought up some new evil things that could occur in the plot. So it's possible that that couple will not be together at the end ...*cue malicious laughter*
Author's Notes: Sorry this chapter also took a long time to get out, but the country I'm living on - Bolivia, was having serious problems: no food, no water and 100,000 people had paralyzed the city so I hope you understand why I couldn't get out this chapter sooner (I couldn't go to one of those places that have Internet - since I still don't have it). This was supposed to be part of the third chapter, but it grew too big. So I decided to split it in two. I'm glad I decided that. Also the 'R' rating will be applied soon enough (though I think some chapters can be better applied the 'PG-13' label, but tell me if it deserves another rating in a review if you think so). I won't be able to write the fifth chapter too much this week or the next because I have lots of school project due this time. So I hope this long chapter can make up for the long wait (it's almost the same length from chapter 3 - over 10,000 words but it's still longer than the first 2 chapters ).
Important Note: By the way...from now on this sign ~ means a different character perspective on the same place and time. The * still remains as a different character perspective on a different time and/or place.
Reckless Streak
8:23 P.M
Cassidy and Butch turned around quickly to face the spy who overheard their conversation, with a mix of fear and anxiety. It wasn't Giovanni - thank goodness. Nor any Team Rocket member or a Psychic Pokemon. It was a tall figure dressed in a black coat that hid its feet, and the rest of its body was also well concealed. Its face and head was covered in a silver mask that had no eye holes, which Butch thought as very bizarre. There was nothing else to describe it - only his long cloak and mask that veiled its features. Butch asked himself inwardly how it could've found the hidden Team Rocket establishment hidden behind a restaurant and how it could've passed the guards without alarm.
Butch took out his pistol that was hidden in a back pocket of his pant with a sudden wrist movement. "Tell us who you are and what rank you are placed in... and I may let you live," Butch demanded in a threatening tone.
The figure didn't move or tremble. In fact, it didn't show any sign that it could see Butch or heard him. Butch was a bit fazed that his threat didn't impact the intruder.
"You should be the one to feel frightened," the cloaked thing said. It had a deep, piercing voice that echoed around the room yet, strangely, Butch couldn't actually pinpoint exactly if it was male or a female.
Butch pressed the trigger fired at it with such an explosion of sound that he wondered if Cassidy was now a bit doubtful that the room was soundproof.
The bullet headed directly to its intended target at an incredible speed that the human eye could barely observe in time. The bullet headed directly to the heart of the cloaked figure, but the bullet didn't bury into its skin. It remained immobile for a second or two, suspended in air, and dropped down with a disheartening thud.
Butch was completely terrified. The spy wasn't hurt in any way and it was still standing there - like a dark shadow. Fear was gripping Butch's heart tightly with cold hands, yet his heart still pounded wildly in his ribcage with furious horror. His mouth was unable to produce any single coherent word and it took several failed attempts to say his next sentence. Butch tried to keep his panic to the minimum.
"What do you want?"
It moved, or slithered, or floated - he couldn't quite distinguish - in front of Butch. He stepped back several feet away from it in fear, yet the figure kept coming closer until it cornered Butch. Its silver-masked face was very close to his and it answered.
"I want your help."
Butch's heart slowed down considerably, yet he was still very frightened of the tall, masked figure. If it wanted his help it meant that it wouldn't kill him - at least Butch hoped desperately. Cassidy was at a reasonably safer distance from it and Cassidy also relaxed but almost immediately she was tense again as the masked figure turned its head towards her for a moment. It immediately snapped its head to Butch when it heard his question.
"In what?" Butch asked weakly.
The figure backed off and moved around in small circles - to the great comfort of Butch. After it stopped moving, it whispered in a low voice full of command. "I want you to attack the Pokemon Center."
The silence that followed his request was one that deaf always hear.
"Excuse me?" Cassidy asked unbelievably in a foolishly affronting voice.
It confronted her in a sudden flash, its robes rippling in undead air. "Is something wrong with my idea?" it asked in a chilling voice that froze Cassidy's heart for a second. She visibly gathered up her courage and spoke.
"What kind of profit could we gain attacking there? Exposing ourselves unnecessarily for a bunch of Pokemon that we already have in immense quantities. Almost all 350 species. So why should we? It is an absurd suggestion," Cassidy once again, met squarely against the menacing figure with boldness that impressed Butch.
The masked thing laughed coldly in her ear. "I'll tell you a good reason. If you won't do it I'll kill you both in such a gruesome and painful death that even your puny minds could never imagine- " Cassidy trembled at this but it wasn't finished speaking. "-and you might find something that will help you enormously in your appealing task of overthrowing your boss. Also, be aware of the fact that I can tell your boss your little secret if you fail or refuse my demand. But if that still doesn't convince you..." it went over to the large desk and placed both of its covered hands (at least Butch thought that) and a large mound of bills appeared. It covered the entire desk and Butch was unable to conceal the delight on his face.
"I hope you are rethinking my plan." If they could've seen its face it would've been smiling. Cassidy approached the desk cautiously and touched the mound with precaution, as though the bills would burst into fire at any second. When she saw no danger she picked up all the bills she could carry and throw it in the air in happiness.
The figure turned to face them both. "This large pile of money is a small bonus for doing me this *favor*. I won't reclaim it back if you flounder your mission. But - don't think I'll turn a blind eye if you fail to attack the Pokemon Center the way I want you to. Punishment goes to those who deserve it, and it's the only thing I like to do after a miscarried mission," he whispered in a deadly tone.
"Why do you want us to assault the Pokemon Center in the first place?" Cassidy, of course, asked.
It turned around to answer her. "That is my own business." It spoke in a voice clearly saying not to pry for more information. Cassidy didn't say anything else.
"And what exactly is the thing that will help us in our goal? And how can it help us?" Butch questioned, hoping it wouldn't get angry at him.
The cloaked thing didn't turn to answer him but kept moving and checking everything in the room. The air had a bone-shaking coldness; Butch rubbed his hands together so his hands wouldn't freeze.
"It will help you in impelling Giovanni from the organization he created. He won't be easy to kill, I'll tell you that - that man won't let anyone take control of his life-long success. If you manage to kill him, then from that point forward it should be relatively easy to take over everything. And what exactly is it? Well...bring me back the thing you *think* will accomplish Giovanni's death and I will give you more riches than any other person in the world. But you must bring me something or I'll immediately think it as failure."
It headed towards the door, but stopped before crossing it. "I expect you to attack the Pokemon Center tonight - it would be the perfect time. But don't think I won't come back...I have a natural ability to appear at the most inopportune times, always unnoticed. I might not come back tomorrow, or the day after - but I will come." It whispered and without another notice it vanished.
Once they both were sure that it had gone, they sighed in relief. "So...what should we do?" Butch asked in a very low voice still containing terror.
Cassidy eyed the pile of money with a big smile. "Why do we have to do it anyway? We have no good reason to ask the other members to attack the Pokemon Center. No reason at all. Besides, we still have this pile of money all for ourselves..." she grinned ambitiously. But as soon as those words escaped her lips she felt as if her whole body was covered in burning ice. Cassidy couldn't move a single muscle or bone in her body; she tried to scream for help but her jaws were frozen solid and her mind became so numb she couldn't even remember how to speak.
"You were saying?" the cloaked thing spoke in a booming voice, though it was nowhere in sight.
"She was mistaken. We will do it," Butch said to all of the walls, hoping it could hear him, hoping that it would stop torturing Cassidy. There was a panicked, eternal silence in which Butch hoped the thing will return the full control of Cassidy's body.
Cassidy wasn't prepared for the sudden control of her body, so she fell hard and landed painfully on her chin. She got up and flexed all the limbs in her body with great alleviation, yet she - Butch though - must've felt stupid at the mistake that could've caused her more than a temporary paralysis.
"Don't ever make me angry again or I'll make sure you never move your body again," it whispered only to Cassidy, but when she turned around it wasn't there. "I made sure the Pokemon Center has a holographic projector around it which displays a peacefully quiet Pokemon Center to any curious passersby. It will conceal any violent activities from them, it is almost impossible to see through it. The projector is only activated tonight and will deactivate tomorrow, but it will also deactivate if you abort the mission or fail it. I expect success."
And with that final declaration it left, leaving Cassidy and Butch in a stunned, muted atmosphere.
***
8:49 P.M
Mark didn't calculate the hours that Misty passed in that padded cell with him. He cried all that time, unabashed at showing his agony. She comforted him, murmured words of hope and promised him to get him his freedom. Yet Misty sometimes looked preoccupied at the oddest of times when she thought no one was looking. But Mark watched all these moments without letting her know. He wondered why she was so troubled - though he had to laugh inwardly at this. Any normal girl would be apprehensive with a prisoner.
Misty was currently hugging the whimpering man, who was huddled in a corner, yet, Mark didn't oppose or attack Misty in any way. He even cried less and less each minute that passed, and buried himself into Misty's warm embrace, the only thing that kept him from breaking down into insanity - a fact that Misty didn't know.
After all of the agonizing hours in that awful cell that seemed to get close and smaller each time Mike stared at it. He was so lonely...so afraid, but Misty soothed and healed some of his painful wounds. She gave him faith, something that he thought he lost forever. Words couldn't express the gratitude and happiness that she offered him selflessly.
His own family gave up on him. He had seen their tears of shame and betrayal. They turned their back on him; left him abandoned and cold at the mercy of the hateful fate. Yet Misty, such a young girl, saved him before it was too late - before despair consumed him totally. Mark almost believed he could be totally free and secure - feelings that were almost forgotten, buried at the back of his mind. But those feelings were returning, ever so slowly, but they were.
Mark lost himself in one of his anguishing memories. He knew perfectly well he couldn't go back to his family. Those backstabbers left him here to rot, to be absorbed by the loneliness and regret of his thoughts.
Mark finally believed that he didn't do it. Because if he really killed all those people, then a 16-year old wouldn't even take pity on him, even less, comfort him. He was more than suspicious, he had to admit that. Why would she soothe a criminal in his own cell, even if he was innocent? Yet his gratefulness was greater than his suspicion.
'Misty': Mark knew he would remember that name forever. She gave him things that even his own family couldn't provide him in Mark's hardest time - but...why? Any normal girl her age wouldn't even think of cheering up a murderer, even worse - a man who is 12 years older than her, nor have taken the great risk of getting caught by the police. It was such a mystery...he couldn't even begin to comprehend it. Mark couldn't believe that such a generous and kind soul could even exist. Egoistic, that is how people are - even from the very beginning, stealing another person's food when they're hungry, ruling the land of the weak and powerless to gain more authority, cheating off the money of the poor, there is always a trace of selfish self-interest in every human being...yet, there seemed to be an exception...
Misty stopped hugging him and stood up abruptly. The confusion and disappointment on his face was not lost on Misty. She seemed to have regret in her eyes and Mark was starting to get worried. Had he been wrong to think that Misty was an open-hearted person?
Misty sighed, then turned to him. "I got to go..."
Mark's disappointment was even more obvious to Misty's eyes than ever. He felt sad, lost but most of all: anger. Was she going to abandon him now - just like his family? Mark had shared his pain and frustrations with her... and she was going to desert him, just like everyone he had loved and cherished. His resentment, fury and depression were bubbling dangerously on the surface of his mind. Mark twisted his face towards her with tears he was unable to hide. "Are you going to give up on me?" he whispered bitterly, his tears descending quietly.
"Of course not! I'm not going to abandon you...it's just that - I can't free you today..." she said remorsefully, but Mark wasn't hearing any of it.
"Bullshit! Just say it outright if you have the courage. Say that you're going to leave me and never come back. I'd feel less grief if you admit it..." he finished in a low voice to avoid showing more sorrow. But his face couldn't conceal that emotion very well.
"No! I swear I'm coming back, please believe me! I just have to rethink my plan...I need a solid scheme to get you outta here. If they find me here - then there won't be any chance at rescuing you!" Misty screamed, but Mark just had to smile sourly. Her excuses to get out of his cell were a tad bit amusing in a distasteful kind of way.
"You don't need to waste false explanations. Please just say that you'll desert me...I don't want bogus hopes at seeing you again..." he tried to hide his face on the mattress of his filthy bed. Mark wasn't comfortable at showing his tears ever again.
"Fine. I'll give you some proof that I'm really coming back." At this affirmation, Mark's eyes turned automatically to Misty, a faint glitter of belief shone in his eyes. She took out a Poke Ball from her backpack and presented it to him. "This is my Goldeen. I took care of it since I was 8, she was the first Pokemon I ever captured. Do I need to show you any more confirmation that I'm coming back?" she said cheerfully.
Mark was absolutely startled. He tried to stand up to se her eyes even more clearly, searching for a sign - any sign that showed that Misty was lying. To his amazement and joyfulness there was none.
"Ma-maybe there is no Pokemon inside," he stuttered a pretext, to avoid feeling trust and confidence in this girl.
Without another word, Misty threw the Poke Ball to the ground and Goldeen appeared, flapping on the floor unable to do more on land. Mark was once again flabbergasted. It just couldn't be...
"Will you really leave your Goldeen behind?" Optimism was blooming in his heart and he thought it was safer if it withered before it took control of his heart. Mark's tears were drying up despite himself.
"Yes - I'm really going to leave Goldeen. Only because you won't believe I'll come back," she grinned at him for the first time. It was a sweet smile full of open honesty and all of his trust poured out as he returned the smile.
"You wouldn't give me your Goldeen...unless you were coming back, right?" He questioned timidly. Misty nodded and Mark's smile grew larger.
"Where can I hide my Goldeen? Someplace where the guards will never think to look at," she asked and Mark immediately tried to move towards the bed.
"Under here - under the bed. There is a loose wooden plank where you can safely put Goldeen." Mark and Misty lifted the heavy mattress (though Mark couldn't help too much) and she returned Goldeen back into her Poke Ball and hid it under the plank. They put the disgusting mattress back to its normal place.
They both stared at each other's eyes for a long moment. Mark couldn't believe there was someone he could count on. It made his heart beat a little bit faster in merriment.
Misty turned towards the door and smiled once again. "I won't be back tomorrow, or the day after - and maybe not for a while. But I will come back," she assured him.
Mark took one long look at her before she closed the door. But Mark was confident she was coming back - that hope was planted firmly in his heart. He went over to the bed and laid on its repugnant long mattress. But he was smiling in pure blessedness. Mark finally had something to cling expectedly, something to fill him with delight in the horrible nights to come.
And that night he slept well. Only filled with serene dreams.
~~~
Misty smiled to herself after she closed the door quietly. Mark was in a much better state of mind now, and she was sure that he would remain like that with Goldeen at his side. She hoped that Goldeen wouldn't get too angry at her for thinking that Misty abandoned her. Goldeen was the thin lifeline Mark had now and she trusted Goldeen at that task.
Misty trusted him. She didn't know why, but she did. Even if the man had evil intentions to keep Goldeen he couldn't escape by himself out of his cell. But despite the possible consequences, Misty knew that Goldeen was in good hands.
She got the keys out of her pocket and locked the door as quietly as she could. If the police knew that it was unlocked when they went to Mark's cell they would be immediately suspicious.
Misty got out of white-walled room and also locked it softly. She was about to head for the stairs when she heard some voices that made her freeze.
"It's dinnertime Bob! Bring the cart over to Sebastian's cell. Pick the most unappealing plate you got - I hate that bastard." One of the policemen that had come out of the farthest door on the hallway, called over to his friend who was on the other side of it.
Misty his behind the plant she had been earlier. Fear took over her as she saw the still unconscious police officer she knocked out earlier. If he woke up or the other policemen saw him...she was finished.
One police guy had a cart with racks of plates filled with food. The one who was waiting for his friend picked up one of the plates with his hand and chuckled so loudly that even Misty could hear. He took out some keys and opened one of the rooms that - Misty thought - would lead to Sebastian's room. The man with the cart followed him inside.
This was Misty's chance and was about to head to the stairs when another sound stunned her more than the police officers at the end of the hallway.
"Ugg...uhh - my head..." the police cop that was unconscious moments before was returning back to consciousness. His eyes opened a bit and had a glazy gaze to it.
"Is that you Margaret?" the policeman asked Misty, who obviously couldn't see well right away.
Misty sprinted up the stairs before he could get a good look at her. Fear and anxiety propelled her with extra speed. After she went up all those stairs, Misty was back again to the room with the stairs. She could go outside , there were more doors and possibilities of escape in the hallway - but police officers could be swarming right outside. Misty couldn't go down - obviously. There was only one choice - go upstairs.
Misty was aware that there could be cops upstairs, but she believed that she had a better chance that in the hallway. She took each step with careful slowness and after a while Misty was finally upstairs.
There was another long hallway (to Misty's bad fortune) but without any doors except one that was all the way in the back.
Misty carefully walked, her footsteps echoed throughout the whole hallway to her ears, and went over to the door and opened it with mounting trepidation. It was a large office - but Misty didn't have time to check it out. The only important thing was that no one was there. But a muffled conversation of the other side of a door Misty didn't notice before, corrected her.
It was too muffled to eavesdrop but she could make out 'Goldenrod' as one of the words. But that didn't matter. Only two things were of importance now: 1)Find an exit.2) Hope the man keeps talking.3) Escape.
Misty desperately went to one of the windows - maybe she could jump out if it wasn't too high.
Misty looked down and with alarm she noted that it was a 20-feet drop. She would never make it - unless...
"Staryu, go." she called out in a whisper. Staryu was about to say something when Misty silenced him desperately.
"Quiet Staryu. If they hear us we're done for." She whispered angrily. Misty pointed the long drop. "Could you descend us slowly with your Water Gun attack? It's going to be tough but I have faith in your abilities." Staryu shone his ruby in happiness. "I'll jump out of the window grabbing hold on you and you'll use your Water Gun on the wall outside next to the window to propel us as far away as possible. Then, use it on the ground to slow our descent. It's going to be hard - but I'm counting on you."
Misty opened the window as noiselessly as possible. She looked down again and had to fight her nausea; she was afraid of heights. Misty took a strong grip on Staryu and faced her back to the window so Staryu could shoot his Water Gun to the wall of the building. The night air was cool against her sweaty skin and the moon shone the ground with an eerie light. With a great amount of bravery she never knew she had - Misty jumped.
Her yell was loud enough to wake up the dead, but Staryu was ready. He pointed his Water Gun to the wall on the right side of the window and with a blast of powerful, clear water they were shot backwards 30 feet away from the building. The air whipped around Misty's hair like a strong hurricane until it stopped suddenly.
They began to fall to the ground; the floor was getting too large and Misty, in her frightened state of mind, was closing her eyes in a dazed trance - not considering the danger she was putting herself in by doing that. The abrupt stop to the fall woke Misty up to her senses. Staryu had used its Water Gun on the floor below, slowing their descent, but after a few seconds, its red ruby was soon sparkling on and off dangerously and his Water Gun was weakening with each second.
Misty wanted to say encouraging words to him but her mind and mouth were no longer linked at that second. Her horror had numbed her brain completely - Misty couldn't even scream. Through her numbness, Misty could see the fatigue took its call on Staryu and he stopped in exhaustion.
Misty's mind ceased to work and black nothingness filled her vision. She was unconscious for a second or two until she hit the floor. Misty landed on her arm, that with a resounding sound, cracked under her whole body weight, including the impact of the fall. Some of her ribs on her right side - the side in which she fell on, split in two. Staryu fell alongside her on his ruby and she tried to call him through her painful daze. Maybe his ruby shattered - she couldn't see through all the blur of colors.
After she landed on her arm and cracked some of her ribs, she began rolling down. Sharp rocks cut through her clothing and split her skin into deep wounds. The ground itself was unforgiving and scratched all of Misty's body like sharp knives. Dust filled her nostrils until she couldn't breathe properly. Her head crashed through several rocks, at least that's what it felt like. The swirl of colors - though red was the principal one, was nauseating to Misty and unconsciousness was like some kind of unreachable prize. After several agonizing seconds of rolling down, she laid on a broken heap at the bottom of the hill.
Misty tried to open her eyes but it was too difficult. Her eyes watered as dirt entered her aquamarine eyes. She felt as if a bulldozer went over her several times to make sure every single bone in her body was broken. Her cloudy eyes could note a lot of red around her. The red was so painful...she wanted it to stop hurting her. Misty's eye sight grew a bit clearer and she could see that the red color was all her blood that was seeping from her chest and arm. The broken bones were explicitly agonizing and breathing was a very hard task. Apparently destiny didn't favor her by bringing her blissful unconsciousness, something that she wanted desperately.
With trembling arms, she was able to lift her body enough to see where Staryu was. Staryu was surrounded by millions of sparkling ruby-red pieces that shone in the moonlight. He wasn't moving.
Misty wanted to ask him if he was ok, but her vocal chords weren't working properly. Misty had enough energy to raise her good arm and point the Poke Ball to where Staryu lay wounded. "Return," she managed to croak. Staryu didn't say anything when he was enveloped in a bright red light. Now Misty had one less thing to worry about.
She tried to stand up, but Misty's feet seemed to be made of jelly and she had to lean against a tree to regain her energies and breath.
The Pokemon Center was a long way off and in her current state it seemed to be millions and millions of miles away. Misty walked sluggishly to a road that she thought led to the Pokemon Center. Her blood dripped down her yellow shirt and soaked her blue shorts. Yet through her dim mind, Misty didn't worry about it - like it was just red paint splattered accidentally on her clothes.
Misty occasionally grabbed a nearby tree trunk to regain her balance. The world was made of swirls and the darkness of night didn't help her. Was she going the right way or not? The path split into three more roads - that was strange, since Misty thought she had taken a single road. Misty looked up wearily at the sky and saw more stars than usual, and didn't Earth have only one moon? About 6 moons were up tonight, and this made Misty laugh. She didn't know why - it wasn't even funny, but she was laughing hysterically, which made the pain in her ribs almost to unbearable levels. She looked up again and saw even more stars than the last time she looked up and the moons kept moving around in circles. Misty laughed even more - she didn't know moons could move.
Misty chose one of the dozen roads that kept moving, but it was sort of fun to follow them. Misty was absolutely sure she was going the right way. Why would the road multiply and move like that if they weren't trying to show her the right way? And the little black, dancing spots also were helpful in showing her the right path. But they kept moving and getting larger each minute that Misty didn't know where to follow them.
Cold sweat was breaking on her forehead and the black spots were getting bigger and bigger and were almost obscuring her whole vision. They were being way too helpful for Misty's taste.
Then Misty realized what kind of aid the black spots were trying to give her. These black spots were attempting to bring her to unconsciousness.
And Misty accepted their help.
***
9:22 P.M
"I think 20 of our men will suffice, don't you think?" Cassidy asked Butch, as she flipped her long blue hair over her shoulder. The things she had to do to gain money, but she smiled secretly to herself - attacking the local Pokemon Center was going to be very simple. With the hologram projector that will cover their backs and their group of professional, personally chosen Rockets will make this mission easier than taking candy from a baby.
"I still say that we bring more of our men just to be on the safe side. Who knows how many Pokemon trainers are staying at the Pokemon Center tonight?" Butch said for the millionth time. Butch's advices to stay on the safe side were starting to annoy Cassidy. Stay on the safe side...they had had hundreds of other missions that were much harder than this one - yet this was the first time Butch recommended precaution tips. That was strange coming Butch since he was an action-now-questions-later type of guy and never really planned on any mission - that was the job of the strategy counselor.
"What's up with you Butch? You've been saying the same thing over and over again for the last hour. What's the matter Butch, you've never been this way." Cassidy prodded him for an answer. It was bewildering to her that Butch wore a worried expression on his face - he only showed it if the mission they were in was failing - never before one.
Butch bit his lip nervously - now Cassidy was the one to look troubled. Butch had never done that.
"Well...I just have this feeling that this attack won't be as uncomplicated as it seems," Butch bit his lip even harder and furrowed his brow. Very weird.
"How hard can an invasion to the Pokemon Center be?" Cassidy asked exasperatedly. "Even if there were many trainers sleeping tonight in the Pokemon Center, our hand-picked members could easily take them out with their high level Pokemon. We have more than the necessary equipment to take about 100 ordinary Pokemon trainers. I still don't see what you worry about, Butch. We had so many other missions that were much harder than this simple task. You know...to tell you the truth Butch, you're acting like a wimp - and I've always hated wimps," Cassidy sneered, knowing that her remark will bring Butch back to his old self.
Butch snapped his head rapidly, mouth open ready to retort, but he changed his mind in the last second and closed it. Butch never passed the opportunity to throw Cassidy a witty remark and this just incremented Cassidy's worries for him - not like she'd ever admit that she was preoccupied about him. That would be incredibly degrading.
"Let's just go check that everything's ready - shall we, Cassidy?" And without any other word Butch went to the other room. He was really getting to Cassidy's nerves today. She knew Butch was just being paranoid, but the point was...Butch was never paranoid.
Cassidy went to the room Butch just went in and closed the door quietly. The room was very different from the other one Cassidy and Butch had been moments before. The size of it was pretty small in comparison to the official meeting room in the Team Rocket headquarters, nevertheless, it was still one of the biggest rooms in that particular Blackthorn headquarter. This was the 'Ammo Room' as the rest of the members named.
It was filled with shelves and shelves with every kind of gun in every imaginable shape. Boxes of explosives were stacked in huge numbers. There were more potent weapons, but they were placed in another room next to the 'Ammo Room'. The titanium door was five inches thick with a big 'KEEP OUT. DANGEROUS. DO NOT ENTER UNLESS YOU HAVE PERMISSION' sign placed next to it. There was also a diminutive, metallic, round-shaped machine that resembled an eyehole that scanned the eye of the person who wanted to enter. If you didn't have permission, but placed your eye anyway, the little machine shot you with a strong electrical current directly to your eyes that spread throughout your body. It would leave you blind for about four days and temporary nerve damage.
There were approximately about 20 members inside the Ammo Room. The people who were assigned personally by Butch and Cassidy for this *easy* task - well at least in Cassidy's opinion.
Each member had to carry one small pistol with him or her for protection. But they could only use it in a very extreme situation they couldn't escape from. They were forbidden to kill anybody - if people turned up dead at the Pokemon Center from one day to the other without any witnesses seeing anything unusual from outside, the police would surely begin to investigate and possibly find the Blackthorn Team Rocket headquarters.
The 20 members had the usual weapons with them. Smoke grenades, Grappling Hooks, Unbreakable Nets, Sleeping Gas, Specialized masks to prevent inhaling smoke, Tranquilizer Darts, Clubs, Night Vision Goggles, Sprays, Light-Sensitive Glasses etc...Along with the uniforms they always wore on any task. The suits were all Water-proof, Shock-proof, Fire-proof, though they were simplest of Team Rocket uniform. They were now wearing it - but it was more than enough. But there were more modern uniforms that were reserved for missions with a level of more difficulty.
Butch was the only member who was carrying more than the necessary equipment - it made Cassidy even more irritated. He was carrying extra of all the usual weapons with some additional ones like Paralysis Bombs, Some real explosives (Cassidy thought it was too exaggerated) and some other stuff she didn't know about.
"Line up, now!" Cassidy ordered in a demanding voice, once she was sure everybody got all they needed.
Everyone immediately lined up in a straight line. They all tried to look perfectly passive and to stay as humanly still. Butch stood alongside Cassidy in total silence. She went over to the first member who was trembling slightly. In other occasions she wouldn't have even thought about bringing trash like him, but she was also responsible for the training of the new Rocket Cadets - anyway, this mission was simple enough.
"Do you have Smoke Grenades, Cadet?" she barked at him. He flinched at her scream, and showed her some smoke grenades in a special backpack. Cassidy continued to order him to show every item he was supposed to carry and approved much to the Cassidy's amazement. After she checked him, Cassidy went to check every member. Almost everyone had everything with them, except two idiots that forgot some of the essential and almost wet their pants at Cassidy's screams.
"Now that we're all set, my companion will kindly show you how exactly we're going to enter the Pokemon Center, Butch?" And without a word he took out a large picture of the Pokemon Center with signs and symbols scrawled all over it.
"Ok, this is what we're going to do. The Pokemon Center security will be very easy to pass, but what we need to worry about is how to enter without being noticed by passersby. This is also quite simple but it is also the hardest part since we have some rookie Rockets among us..." and she sneered in their direction. "I also hope that you've all changed you appearances like me and Butch did. It is essential in case the police find us, though Blackthorn policemen are known to be one of the worse trained in capturing criminals and they don't have a scientific lab to investigate complicated clues at a close range. They are also known to be corrupt...only a few of these-," Cassidy held up several dollar bills. "- and they can drop the case. But better be safe than sorry I always safe." Butch snorted very loudly at this, some Rocket members tried to - unsuccessfully - hide their laughter. Cassidy's anger at Butch was almost about to be released but she contained herself.
She coughed loudly to regain their attention. It caught their attention fully - like her cough was a gun going off. Their muffled laughter ceased and they immediately fell silently. Cassidy had to smile despite herself - she loved the control she had over them.
"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by all of you - " Many of them gulped in fear as she said this. " - It would be pretty easy to do this, even to the new Team Rocket members. But we must not fail this mission. We have sources that a rare Pokemon with extraordinary powers resides inside of the Pokemon Center." Cassidy wasn't actually telling them the truth, yet it wasn't a complete lie. She supposed the thing that will overpower Giovanni had to be a powerful Pokemon. What else could it possibly be?
"We arrive from a normal van and then, we will enter from the roof of the Pokemon Center. There is an unprotected window with no security whatsoever. Then I bet there is a simple burglar alarm installed near the main desk - our most experienced members should know how to find it and deactivate it..." If they failed in this particular task...Cassidy would personally punish them severely. "...We have to go to a room where they keep all the Pokemon in their PokeBalls. All marked with its gender, species and trainer so they won't mix up - too foolish if I say so myself. There should be the PokeBall with the Pokemon we're looking for inside. If not, then we have no choice than waking up each trainer and making them show us their Pokemon - I do hope we don't get to that extreme, even if our Pokemon could handle them single-handedly. We get out with our Grappling Hooks through the same window and escape from the van. There is a secret passageway from the ground that will activate only with Team Rocket vehicles, it will scan the tires and let us in, directly back to our Headquarters. Any questions?" She arched her eyebrows upwards in silent question. A pestering guy raised his hand.
"What is it?" Cassidy couldn't contain her annoyance in check.
"Well...how come we didn't have more preparations? We should've planned something this big at least a whole day. But we had only less than two hours to prepare everything. Don't you think that's a bit rash?" The bold guy asked while others muttered silently, asking themselves the same questions and wondering if Cassidy would punish the man.
She looked at him like he was something that came out of a garbage can. "We have a temporary Hologram Projection Device that will conceal us only for today and will not work tomorrow or any other time other than tonight - I think it's unnecessary to plan for such a length of time when the principal part of our operation has been placed before. Is there another question in mind?" she asked in a voice full of thinly-veiled irritation.
"Err...no, ma'am," the guy said in a very low, puny voice, contrasting with the bold question he asked a second earlier.
"Very well. As there's no more questions I think the mission should start immediately." Cassidy motioned them to get to their positions. Their was a bustle of hurried footsteps and the silent obedience of the Rockets. Once everyone had left behind except Cassidy and Butch, she immediately turned her head in his direction.
"Are you coming or not?" she questioned him icily and left the room. Butch followed her soon after, but just before snarling in affirmation to her question.
Everyone arrived at an underground station that made the room they were previously in look like a broom cupboard. Its gigantic proportions held many Team Rocket cars and vehicles of different sizes. A small lake was at the left part of the station where there were several motorboats. The lake extended to a small, dark cave where Cassidy couldn't see beyond. The boats were only used on evacuation of the whole building in case an emergency of great magnitude happened. It was an underground river that led directly to Lake Rage where the nearest hidden base was.
There were also jets and planes that varied in power and size. They used it on missions that needed to be done in long distances. They used a special camouflage technology 'Shadow Stealth' to fly undetected by any kind of radar and it also offered almost complete invisibility from any civilian.
But they were going to use a seemingly normal van that had enough space to accommodate everyone inside. Cassidy and the rest of them would obviously be a little squeezed-up, but that was just a minor inconvenience that would've bothered her in a mission with less importance.
The van didn't have any special trait except the tire-scan that every Team Rocket vehicle had. It was a bit big, yes, but the van looked like a toy van compared to the other more advanced methods of transportation.
Cassidy decided to let Butch drive for this mission, despite his worrying state of mind he was in now - at least in her opinion.
Butch opened the back doors of the van. "Everyone inside." He commanded.
Everybody awkwardly entered inside and tried to find a space to seat themselves. They were all squished together trying to stay still in case any weapon in their bags would go off unexpectedly. Butch went inside to the driver's seat and Cassidy seated herself beside him in the front seat. He took out a silver key from his pocket and placed it in the ignition.
The van began to rumble and Butch pressed the gas pedal and they were off. A long ramp was descending from a hatch on the ceiling that led outdoors. It usually was closed so the street would look normal, but opened up like this so Team Rocket vehicles could go outside. Butch checked a small radar that was alongside the steering wheel.
"No civilian or Pokemon that can see us near this area," Butch said in a monotone voice. Cassidy nodded silently while the van went up the ramp. Once they were outside the ramp began to close up and the street looked as perfectly normal as if there weren't something strange beneath it at all.
The Pokemon Center was not far away from here, it would take only minutes to get there. Everyone was silent while Butch drove at a moderate speed so he wouldn't attract attention. The few civilians that did see them while Butch drove never stopped the van, because of fear or lack of observation, it didn't matter. Butch was driving in secluded streets were not many people lived, and it led directly to the back of the Pokemon Center. Once they finally arrived to their destination Butch quietly got out and opened the back door of the van.
They got out one by one as noiselessly as possible and hid behind a large bush near the wall. Cassidy also got out and took out a grappling hook from her pocket. Everyone including Butch also took one from their backpack. Cassidy pointed it to a ledge on the roof and pressed a button on the grappling hook. A steel object with four, sharp points that was tied around with a long rope, pierced through the wall. Cassidy checked that it would safely stay where it was and would support all her body weight. She grabbed the rope firmly with both of her hands and placed her feet firmly on the wall. The other members and Butch did the same as her. She began climbing up the wall, planting her feet firmly with each step she took upwards. Her hands were starting to ache and blister but she ignored the pain.
Finally, all of them got to the top of the Pokemon Center and surely, there was a wide window there where they could easily enter.
"I'm sure that the hologram projector is working properly so I don't think we need to be cautious anymore," Butch said to some members who were on their stomach crawling slowly. When they heard this, they stood up and dusted themselves off.
"Ok, now this is when the action starts," Cassidy grinned to herself and went to the window. She looked down through the glass and Cassidy could only see the reception desk and some seats. She placed her light-sensitive glasses and turned them on. There was no sign of any red security beams on the window or near the reception desk. She took them off and gave a thumbs-up sign to her team mates.
They all came near the window and Butch took out a small blade that could cut glass without shattering it. Cassidy grabbed it roughly from his grasp and gently cut a circle in the glass big enough to go through it - backpacks and all. She grasped the transparent glass and placed it beside her.
There was a pole near them - perfect for the next step.
Cassidy grabbed a rope from her backpack and tied it around the pole. She tied the other end of the rope around her with several knots. Cassidy went to the window again and lowered herself gently through the hole. She landed inside with a loud thump which she cursed herself inwardly. Soon, Butch was alongside Cassidy and the rest of the members followed their example.
They untied the knots once they were totally inside. The Pokemon Center was dark and it was completely silent except for the light snoring of an extremely fat Chansey, and strangely, no egg on her pouch. Cassidy turned her back on the freak and motioned with her hands to Butch. He nodded once and took out a tranquilizer gun. He pressed on the trigger and a small syringe-type of thing filled with a blue fluid sunk into Chansey's thick skin. The blue liquid entered into Chansey's body and she slumped to the floor in an unnatural sleep.
Like if on cue, a guy with long, blond hair brought out a small laptop. He began typing at a fast speed for several minutes which Cassidy very impatient. Then with a small beep the burglar alarm was deactivated. He smiled smugly and placed his laptop back to his backpack.
Everyone took out their night vision goggles and entered a small doorway labeled 'STAFF ONLY'. On the right side, there was the Emergency Room where they operated the Pokemon; on the far right side there was a room full of medication and bandages. On the left side of them there was a door with no name on it and Cassidy deduced it was Nurse Joy's bedroom. She smirked to herself - maybe one of the perverted guys would like to go there afterwards. And then there was the room they were looking for. The Pokemon Storage Room.
It was locked. Cassidy huffed in annoyance. One small, freckly member took out a small machine that glowed green in the darkness - the Door Opening Device. He placed it on the door knob and after several seconds the door instantly opened with a creak.
There were shelves and shelves of PokeBalls that were all labeled. Everyone began to look at each label. Cassidy grinded her teeth in frustration. Caterpies? Squirtles? Kakunas?! They were all worthless. Some members stared at each other quizzically, silently questioning themselves with their gaze. Some Rockets stuffed some PokeBalls they thought were worth something. But there was no exceptional PokeBall there. The strongest Pokemon they found was a Gyarados that was from a kid from Mahogany.
"Guess we have to wake up the trainers," one of the Rockets whispered to another. Cassidy sighed in defeat and anger when a frightened voice interrupted the silence.
"Wha-wha...what are you do- " Nurse Joy was cut off by a long cloth that made her gag. One of the Rockets had been behind her and was currently tying her hands with wire. Nurse Joy tried to resist but more men surrounded her and tied up her body with wire, rope or tape. Her eyes filled with piteous tears as she tried to shout for help through the cloth in her mouth.
"Lock her up in a closet or something. And don't do anything funny - we have no time for your little games," Cassidy snapped to them while they took Nurse Joy away.
"What do we do now, Cassidy?" asked one of the new Team Rocket cadets. Normally Cassidy punished anybody who spoke to her with informality, but she was too distracted by more important matters than that.
"I think it's time to wake up the sleepy-heads," she said in a voice full of malicious delight. That was their cue as everyone ran to the main reception room. The guys that locked Nurse Joy in a closet also came, but they had disturbing smiles on their faces. Cassidy didn't even want to know what they did to Nurse Joy.
Once everyone was back where the unconscious Chansey was, they moved to the other corridor where the trainers were sleeping.
"To hell with sneakiness." Cassidy said to Butch. With a sigh, he took out some red dynamite sticks and placed it at a safe distance from the rooms; they wanted to wake up the trainers - not kill them, though it would've been fun to blow them sky high.
Butch had a matchstick in his hand and he rapidly lit them all up as fast as he could. The fuse was long but he still needed to light every single one rapidly.
Everyone went as far away from the dynamite sticks as they could; some behind the long reception desk, some cowards actually went outside but still near enough to the Pokemon Center, a strange girl hid behind a plant pot. Everyone went to the nearest cover.
Cassidy was behind the reception desk with several Rocket teammates. Butch soon joined her, out of breath but just as anticipated as Cassidy.
"Wakey, wakey..." Cassidy whispered under her breath, just when the dynamites exploded in a hot, powerful mass of fire and destruction.
***
10:01 P.M
Ash was tired, dizzy, dirty, sick and had a fat Persian on his lap when the plane miraculously arrived on the Blackthorn Airport. His whole flight consisted in one vomiting session after another that never seemed to end. The old lady was the only one who didn't mind the lingering smell of waste - she actually said it reminded her of the smell of the beach in Vermillion City. Ash wondered if the beaches of Vermillion City were made of pee, poop and vomit.
Hey, it had been a while since he was in Vermillion City.
The flight back to Blackthorn was even more uncomfortable than the flight to Pallet. Ash, Pikachu and Shashooka had learned the awful truth in this trip - there were no bathrooms in this plane.
Shashooka had eaten so many rotten Magikarps that he was the first one to be beaten by mother nature. Shashooka wanted to go to a corner, but apparently he couldn't resist that much since the corner was pretty far away and he peed right in front of Ash and Pikachu. Pikachu had moaned at that, reminding him his need to do his necessities. Pikachu had ran behind the Magikarp boxes - thankfully Ash couldn't see this little act. Pikachu had returned with a sigh of satisfaction that disturbed Ash greatly.
The whole plane smelled a whole pack of Donphans had peed, pooped, vomited and then covered themselves with lots of garbage. But nope, the smell was just from a kid, an electric mouse, and an overly fat cat.
Ash couldn't help it to retch that much. The bowl he had used for his vomit bouts was already filled to the brim with his liquid lunch. The old lady *did* give them lunch - fried fish. It reminded Ash too much like the horrid-smelling Magikarp so he declined as politely as he could (it was quite difficult since Ash at that moment wanted to make the old lady suffer like he was).
Instead, Ash ate the squashed blueberry pie his grandma gave him. He had to eat it with his eyes and nose closed, so he couldn't see or smell the revolting plane.
After he ate the whole pie he decided to remain in the position he used to eat his pie. But his lack of oxygen made him breath the nauseating air. The smell reached his nose with such intensity it made his eye pop open - and that's when he couldn't ignore the repugnant material on the floor. His pie that was in his stomach began to sickeningly move up his esophagus. Before Ash could have stopped it, his once delicious blueberry pie had come out with a splat that didn't differentiate with the rest of the floor.
Shashooka, attracted to the squishy blueberry pie, sniffed it once, and not caring that it had come from Ash's stomach, swallowed everything with one lick. But after half an hour the blueberry pie took the toll that the rotten Magikarp could not on Shashooka. Ash really tried to avoid it, he really did but Shashooka was too sick to do anything - and the Persian threw up everything, Magikarp scales and all on Ash. And with a small meow that resembled that of a small Meowth, Shashooka slumped on Ash's lap, unconscious.
Ash didn't have the heart to wake Shashooka up, even if he smelled like an overused bathroom. So Shashooka spent almost the whole trip like this. Ash didn't tell the old woman of Shashooka's current condition; he knew that the old lady would have a heart attack and forget to control the whole plane.
They finally landed on the ground after five hours of extreme suffering. Ash tried to wake Shashooka up but that didn't prove too successful. Next, he tried to haul Shashooka's heavy body, though it was harder than he thought. Shashooka, sleepily licked Ash's face and he had to control the urge to gag. The smell of Magikarp and vomit combined almost left Ash in the same state as Shashooka. Ash had only one option left - tell the old lady about Shashooka.
They were already on the ground so Ash didn't have to worry about falling to his grave. With a sigh of resignation, Ash opened his mouth to speak to her.
"Uh...old lady, err...sir - I mean ma'am..." Ash didn't want to insult the crazy woman. She turned around and looked directly into his eyes.
"Call me Adriana, sonny...Charming ladies my age don't like to feel old," she grinned crookedly, that was just before Adriana noticed her precious Persian sprawled across Ash's lap with his tongue out.
"AHHHHH! What did you do to Shashooka?!!?!" She screamed and launched herself at Ash. Adriana didn't attack him but roughly grabbed Shashooka from Ash's grip with amazing strength.
"Shashooka! Can you hear me, sweetie?!" The old lady asked him desperately. Shashooka slowly opened his eyes. Once he saw who was making such racket, he opened his mouth in a wide yawn and went back to sleep.
"Oh, you're all right!!!" She cried gleefully and hugged Shashooka. The poor Persian's eyes bulged out from their sockets and he started to thrash around, trying to escape the old lady's iron grip hug.
After the old woman stopped crushing poor Shashooka, to the Persian's immense relief, she stared at Ash with furious eyes.
"Wha - I swear I didn't do anything, honest!" Ash frantically told her. The old woman got closer to Ash, and he could once again smell her foul onion breath. Adriana glared at him suspiciously for some time, until Ash couldn't handle her breath any more and turned his head the other way to breathe properly.
The elderly woman immediately smiled in triumph. "HA! The guilt finally got to you. Now spit it out you mangy mongrel!" She pointed an accusing finger at him. Ash felt indignant and angry at that remark, so it wasn't all his fault when the next words escaped his mouth.
"I said I didn't do anything, you stupid old bat! Your Persian just ate something that he shouldn't, though I'm not surprised at his condition - with all that disgusting fish you have onboard!" Ash yelled, not considering the old woman's reaction.
*Now* Adriana was mad. She scooped Shashooka in one arm and the other one was placed in her bony hip.
"How dare you say such things to me you dirty brat!" She shrieked and without any warning, she picked Ash by the collar of his jacket and grabbed Pikachu - who had passed out just like Shashooka - with her other hand.
Ash didn't have time to reply because the old woman threw the both of them out of the plane. Thankfully, they had landed a bit earlier but the fall on hard concrete was still as hard as ever.
"And don't ever come back!" She yelled from inside the plane and a pitiful meow soon followed after that remark. Ash wanted to insult her some more but he would cause more trouble than it was worth. Pikachu woke up brusquely from his fall, but when he opened his eyes Pikachu's face turned an ugly shade of green so he had to close his eyes until Pikachu was sure his stomach's contents were in the right place.
Ash placed an almost unconscious Pikachu on top of his hat and began walking towards the old airport he had been on almost 24 hours ago. The smell of moss and dust reached his nostrils when he opened the splintering, rotten door. The same lazy police woman he met hours before was still painting her nails, but instead of painting her nails magenta she was painting them a lime green color.
"Ah, back so soon?" The police woman stared at him with a hint of interest in her dull, brown eyes. Her jeans were covered in shiny lime nail polish along with several spots of magenta Ash had seen before.
"Yeah," Ash replied simply without another comment. The boredom in the policewoman's eyes returned immediately after his remark, knowing that Ash wouldn't say anything more entertaining.
"Just go through the metal detector, sir," she ordered uninterestedly. Her nails were even more sloppily painted than the other time. She didn't bother removing the magenta nail polish she had painted on and just added the lime nail polish on top of it creating a greenish-brown sort of color.
Ash went through the metal detector that didn't beep this time either, though he was still carrying some coins and a metal key chain. The policewoman didn't give Ash any more interest until he accidentally bumped against her lime nail polish bottle that was near the edge of a small table. The bottle crashed into a thousand glass shards and splattered the police woman's boots.
"Damn it!" She cursed at him, wiping some of the nail polish off her boots with her uniform. Ash hurriedly crossed the room and went to the exit without even offering an apology.
When he was finally outside the airport, Ash sighed with relief. No more monsters and rotten fish. No more vomiting fits or long-lost Persians. No more rundown airports or lazy cops. No more broken nail polish bottles and Pallet Mountains. No more secrets and strange behavior. And best of all...
No more crazy pilots.
Ash grinned to himself. Finally he was back to Blackthorn and his worries finally were behind him. These were Ash's thoughts until he remembered why he came back. Worry was once again planted onto his heart when he remembered reading the newspaper article. 12 people died in a horrible fire a lunatic lit up with gasoline. Thankfully, the guy was safely locked up in a cell, because if Ash ever saw the bastard he would personally kill him.
Ash knew Misty and Brock were ok. They *had* to be ok. Just the thought that his two best friends were hurt made him want to scream. But still, the fire wasn't too far from the Pokemon Center and they could've easily gone for a walk that morning...Ash stopped this trail of thought and almost slapped himself. They were fine and safe inside the Pokemon Center, sleeping soundly in their beds. Period.
A cab was driving slowly near Ash, so he called it over. A gruff-looking cabdriver opened the backdoor and Ash entered nervously.
"To the Pokemon Center across Maufield Roa-" Ash was cut off by the cabdriver.
"There's only one Pokemon Center in Blackthorn, kid," he said snappishly while he stepped on the gas pedal.
"Uh...nice night, eh?" Ash tried to converse to the cab driver, when he felt the cabdriver's eyes on him. The cabdriver grunted in response and continued driving.
Ash scratched behind Pikachu's ears as he looked at the passing scenery. It was mostly a dark blur of trees until they reached the main part of the city. He saw few people out on the streets and all of the stores were closed for the day except a supermarket that flashed a neon sign 'OPEN ALL DAY'.
Something caught his eyes when they were passing the Police Headquarters. An immobile figure that resembled the silhouette of a human was partly hidden by a shrub. He was just able to catch a glimpse of orange that was reflected by the moonlight before he lost sight of it. Ash was about to ask the cabdriver to stop but his anxiousness for the well-being of his friends got the better of him.
Twenty minutes passed before Ash could see the Pokemon Center at a distance. The cab drove nearer and nearer until it stopped at the entrance. Just when Ash was getting out and paying the respective amount of money to the cabdriver something horrible happened. The normal-looking Pokemon Center changed in a blink of an eye.
Ash's eyes widened. Huge clouds of smoke obscured most of the Pokemon Center roof, and through the thick gray smoke Ash could see a large hole that showed trainers sprawled on the ground or others bravely fighting against-
Team Rocket?!
"Call the police! Team Rocket is attacking the Pokemon Center!!!" Ash shouted frantically at the perplexed cabdriver. "Don't you understand?!?!" Ash yelled desperately when the cabdriver didn't do anything.
"Crazy kid, are you drunk or something?" The cabdriver snorted before he drove out of sight, ignoring Ash's furious cries.
"Let's go inside Pikachu," Ash said fearlessly, though Ash dreaded how he would find Misty and Brock. Pikachu quizzically stared at him, then at the Pokemon Center before visibly shrugging. Why didn't anyone see how the Pokemon Center was?!
With an affirmative, "Pika!" Ash and Pikachu entered the Pokemon Center, but the sight that greeted them made them want to rename the building to a more suitable name.
Devil's Hole.
*************
ARGH! I had to cut the chapter once again! I realized that if I didn't it would be more than 18,000 words. I just realized how huge this story is going to be... Please, please, PLEASE! I beg you! Review!!! This takes me a long while to write. I only got 1 review for the other chapter *cries* I know I sound pathetic but it doesn't take long to review. Ok, on with the good soul who reviewed me! :)
lil_washu2: If it weren't for you I would've probably sulked all week! Thanks for the review!!! And to calm your fears...No, I won't do AAML just because everyone else writes it. I liked the shipping for 2 and a half years. Anyway as much as I love it, in this fic it may not end with that pairing. It will contain AAML but I've just thought up some new evil things that could occur in the plot. So it's possible that that couple will not be together at the end ...*cue malicious laughter*