Well, THAT was sudden for me… Maybe the gun in his case will be used if I refuse to accept his offer.
"Team Rocket?" I asked him playing like I don`t know what it is. "I`ve heard something of you guys... But I know not much, actually."
"Whatever you heard, forget about it. We are the most powerful organization in Kanto region. We have connections across the whole planet! And we need skillful trainers like you to work together with us."
I looked at the gun in case. It was right near the papers pile – I guess this is the contract of some sort. After that I raised my view to back Team Rocket recruiter.
"What do you offer?" Judging by his cunning smile he was expecting this question.
"Power. Money. Missions in other regions. And even more – depends on how good you are…"
"I am good. I am very good but… I lost in the finals of that stupid Challenge. Why me? Why not the winner?"
Recruiter looked away for some seconds, thinking through his answer. But really – why me and not Douchebag? He has stronger pokemon and all that… I waited for an answer quite for long and started to think that he was sent to recruit me no matter who wins. I even started to think Team Rocket organized the whole Challenge just to find remarkable trainers for their plans. At least I didn`t notice him to find anyone else but me.
"He won just because of his high levelled pokemon. But you… YOU! Have the spirit! You are smart, cunning and tricky. Exactly what we need in our job."
Well, at least in that he is right. Have to admit – he managed to find a fitting answer for this trick question.
"Is… Is this job legal?" I asked him. I wonder how they refer to all anti-law stuff they do.
"Does it matter? Listen here, young man, laws are created by fools just for us to break! And I know you`re agree with me, I can see it in your eyes. You… had some experience, hadn`t you?"
Damn, looks like these black glasses aren`t black enough to hide my eyes from strangers. Is it really that obvious? I should change something on my face. Grow a beard, maybe. Or no, I shouldn't… I will be even more like bandit then.
I couldn`t say anything against him, but the next actions were very obvious.
"I think I`m interested in this. Count me in."
I bet Misty was shocked at this moment standing near the window from the other side and listening to us. But the recruiter - on the contrary - smiled contentedly and took the papers from his case. Under the papers there was small notebook, he took it too and started to write something in it. When he finished he pulled out the sheet and handed it to me.
"You can come for the official registration in our hideout, according to this address."
I looked down the list he gave me. The street was unfamiliar to me, but the rest…"
"Celadon City?" I asked surprisingly.
"Yeah, and be careful – if you will have cops on your tail when you arrive – we will not let you in. This is very secret, even for them. Especially for them. Got it?"
I nodded in agreement and put this sheet in my greatcoat pocket.
"Great. Now let`s fill your primary file so we know who will come to us. Your name?"
It all came to this… Well, maybe we can proceed to the next phase of my interrogation.
"Call me… Vengeance."
"No, your real name…" He interrupted himself immediately after he realized what my name is. After he realized he knows this name.
The look on his face changed at once – from overconfident and serious to surprised and scared. I smiled, satisfied by the fact of my small fame among Team Rocket members and threw away the case with the gun. Recruiter was distracted by this and let me charge into him and crush him to the wall. I pressed his chest with my forearm to make sure he will not escape.
"You know me, right?" I asked him while keeping his free hand from reaching pokeball.
"Just… heard some… That you were in mount Moon… And killed some of our men."
Do they really think I killed Mark Steam? And someone else?
"Do you mean… I killed squad 2B?"
"And what do you say, you didn`t? No one have seen them since their mission, and just then you appear out of nowhere with blooded ID card of one of ours and start to threaten us!"
In his voice I could hear the sound of anger and accusation. They DO think that was me. Well, let them think that way; maybe fear will help me in my investigation and keep them away from me. Or, if I`m not lucky enough, will do the opposite…
"What was the mission of squad 2B?"
"I don`t know! Everyone`s task is kept secret even from others!"
Unfortunately, I have seen so much lie in my life I can always identify it. This wasn't lie. Looks like he really doesn`t know anything about the task of that damned squad 2B. There are smart guys in Team Rocket that can keep secrets and know how to make others keep it too. But not this one…
Suddenly the door behind me opened and Misty appeared, very worried.
"They are here!"
Damn it… Why does this never work the right way? When cops are needed immediately – they are like slowpokes crawling to the place. When I need more time to interrogate the criminal bastard – they appear right now!
I had to release the Team Rocket recruiter, letting him fall on the floor after my grip. As he was respiring I quickly found a rope and started tying him to the tube nearby. Misty looked around to find something important. Papers, for example. She took the documents and kicked the gun away from here. I finished with ropes and looked around trying to remember where I could leave my fingerprints. I think I touched nothing here, so I came to Misty and together we left this building through the window. When police arrive, they will get what they want, but we don`t have to be here.
Nearly two minutes later we were at the other side of bridge, too far to see us even from the windows. On our way we even heard sounds of gun shots coming from that small building and judging by the sound of shots, they were made not by that small gun of Team Rocket recruiter. Clean work, guardians of law and order…
We had some time to catch breath and rest. Very close to the shore and far from the incidents... We finally did it to the other side or river – Route 24. Somewhere near should be my hunt target – scarred Bellsprout, but for now he can wait a bit.
"So, let`s see what we`ve got?" I asked Misty gently pulling the papers out of her shirt. She gave me a very suspicious look, but didn`t resist.
So we looked around to make sure no one is around, sat on the grass, put all document on the ground and started reading them. There were three blank forms for new recruits with all information about them, some sort of leaflet about Team Rocket and advantages of joining it and another blank sheet – maybe, to write down all new recruits at once. Well, this prize appeared to be useless after all.
Misty lay on the ground and sighed deeply. Yeah, the day is slowly coming to the end and it was quite eventful. I was very tired too and lay near her to look at the sky. The fact that it was a hell of a lot time since I had last meal made my stomach screeching just like Zubat. I took out a chocolate bar from my pocket and opened it. For a second I noticed Misty`s compassionate look in the reflection of my glasses and turned my head to her. After some second I understood what she wants.
"Ah, take it. I have more…" I gave her my chocolate bar and looked at the rage she started to crunch it with. Of course, she had her own food in bag but… We were so tired to stand up and take something. I sighed and took the second chocolate bar to eat. Some minutes we were laying on the grass in a complete silence, chewing this yumminess. For so long I finally had some time to calm down and enjoy my meal and a friend nearby.
But this couldn`t last long as Misty interrupted my rest.
"At least, he gave you the address…"
Damn it, I completely forgot about it! The address of… what did he say? Hideout? Maybe this is the place where I can continue my investigation and finally find something. I took out this sheet from my pocket and looked it through.
Celadon City, Victoria Street… The city and street are written down, but what about the number of house? Or building?
"Have you been in Celadon City?" I asked Misty.
"Just once, so I don`t know it very well."
"Too bad…" Looks like I have to handle this myself. Maybe the recruiter was going to tell me where exactly to go later? If so, he is not as stupid as I thought him to be. To give the address of their secret hideout to unreliable stranger IS the top of stupidity. Anyway, I have at least something.
Misty looked away from me, finishing her chocolate bar. I have already finished mine, and the feeling of satiety pleased me.
"Aren`t you coming with me?"
"I said – just a couple of days." She replied before turning head to me. "I can`t leave my job for too long. I will help you with these hunters but the rest is on you. Maybe later."
"Well, thanks for this too." I said and put the sheet inside my greatcoat. "I think we should go then…"
"No, we shouldn`t." Misty suddenly grabbed my hand and put me back on ground. "Don`t hurry, we will make it. Just… Let yourself some minutes of rest. When did you sleep last time?"
"Erm… Two days ago, maybe…" I tried quickly to remember everything that happened during the last days and just then realized that actually I slept last time just in Pewter City. And that was a hell of a lot time ago.
"No, I mean… When did you sleep last time like a normal person? Without nightmares, any worries, insomnias and all that? When did you have real rest?"
She actually caught me off guard and I couldn`t answer that that easily. This time I had to lead my glance away.
"Many years ago…"
Misty heard what she expected to hear and didn`t reply. Instead of it she got up and looked at the sun waiting for some seconds.
"That means these two days of ours will be your best! We will deal with hunters and spend the rest of time together. Just me and you." She looked down on me and gave a hand. "THIS is the reason to hurry. So we can have rest later."
She is very different from me. All these years whatever troubles are coming at me, no matter how hard for me to move forward I never let myself to rest. I always say to myself that death will be my rest and just continue. But now… For some reason I even didn`t want to argue. Maybe she is right and I just need to spend just a single day with a person that cares about me. A person that I care about. Recover myself and restore just a bit of sanity that left in my mind until it`s completely gone.
I grabbed her hand and got up too. Of course, bad thoughts were coming to my mind. What if my pursuers will find me? What if every second of delay makes my goal further and further? What if during this small "holiday" of mine Misty will get hurt because of my weakness? No, I shouldn`t think about it. But I have to be on guard all the time and let Misty have fun. She deserved it; after all I left her without saying a word. I`m still surprised she didn`t slap me in the face at the moment we met yesterday.
"Let`s start with restoring your pokemon." She said putting the bag on ground.
"Damn it, I completely forgot." All my pokemon were fainted after the battle against Douchebag. Maybe inside pokeball they had a little rest, but they still weak. The best option would be to visit a PokeCenter but I couldn`t see one around us.
"Is Cerulean City the nearest location with PokeCenter, right?"
"Yep."
"So how do we do it?"
"This is how." Misty took out a small packet with Revives from her bag. From my position I could also see some Potions in her sac. The thought about using medicine visited my head too but I didn`t wanted to use it anyway. They are not that cheap, especially Revives, so it would be better to give my team a better and – what is more important – free health care in PokeCenter. I`m a greedy man.
"Are you sure? We may need this later, isn`t there any other Pokemon Center? Or any other institutions like that?"
Misty thought for a moment.
"Yeah, I think there is. I know one person that can help us. And he will do it pretty quickly – much faster than PokeCenter`s equipment."
Fast treatment is very good. This can be much better idea than visit Pokemon Center again, I didn`t think about it in the first time.
"This is very good! But… what`s the catch?"
"No, it`s fine… He lives not far from here, in a personal house. He is an inventor! I think you`ll like him." Misty looked around and headed to the main road. With nothing more to do I followed her.
"An inventor, huh? Sounds interesting."
"And… he is also my ex-boyfriend." Misty stretched this phrase like she wanted to delay this topic as much as she can.
"Should this bother me?"
"I don`t know… Are you my boyfriend now?" She sounded confused, but then asked me with smile. And at first I had no idea how to answer it.
"Well, I was… But, to be honest, right now I have absolutely neither time nor energy to have any relationships. Rarely… sometimes… Find some time to spend with a nice girl and remind myself that I`m a man – this is what I can do."
Actually I thought she will feel aggrieved about this but she wasn`t. She just looked up and asked with a straight tone:
"And how many this "nice girls" you had during these years?"
"I have a notebook with numbers here; we can count if you want." I smiled, took out the notebook of my pocket and showed it to Misty. She didn`t even turn her head – just grabbed it and threw away down the hill.
"We never break down actually…" She finally looked at me with her own smile. "As an acting girlfriend I had to do at least something, right?"
"Yeah… Whatever, I can live without it."
"Of course you can. You can start new notebook." At this moment I couldn`t understand what was more in her words – sarcasm or jealousy. Maybe both.
"Maybe, I can."
"You`re such a womanizer."
"And you`re not the first to call me that…"
We continued our way in a better mood. It`s nice to have somebody that is sarcastic enough to understand what must be serious and what is not. Too bad she does not always understand what MUST be serious. Walking with a dangerous man like me, for example.
And soon we reached our destination – some house near the road in the middle of nowhere. I really don`t know how someone can live there, but maybe this is just better for an inventor?
The territory of house is fenced and in some places the fence has wires attached to it. From the side I could see his own small energy station with solar panels on top. On the left side of this lot there is another small building – maybe garage or storage room. Behind the house I could see a real small helicopter – I guess made by hands of its owner. Also there was high pole with some device on top of it.
We came to the entrance gates and Misty pressed the button to call the owner. After a minute no one replied and that worried her.
"Maybe he isn`t home?" I suggested.
"No, it can`t be…" Misty came closer to the gate and pushed her hand through a hole to the other side. "I know it. Something must have happened. Can you smell the burning?"
Just at the moment she said it I actually smelled it but I didn`t see any smoke.
"Yeah, I can. But… Nothing is burning!"
"This happened before. I don`t know what crap this idiot used in his experiments but it can actually burn without a smoke. That`s it!"
Misty clicked something on the other side of gates and opened it. I would have never thought of her as a housebreaker. She immediately rushed to the house and I followed her.
The door to the house itself wasn`t closed and Misty easily ran in.
"Bill? Where are you, Bill?" She shouted trying to find the house owner. I looked around and noticed a room with a bunch of different equipment – pretty impressive equipment, even better than in Oak`s lab. The room was filled with light pink fog, and the source of it seemed to be two strange devices that look like elevator of some sort.
I came to the panel and looked on it. Big red button was signaling about malfunction of some process and the screen above asked to press it to restore previous state. Usually I wouldn`t do anything stupid by playing with unknown toys but this time I was really curious about that so… Of course, I pressed that big red button.
The devices were shut down and hissed releasing the gas inside. Emergency lamps turned off too and everything seemed to return back to normal. But suddenly the doors of right device opened releasing thick pink smoke outside and something appeared inside.
I cautiously came closer to look at it and soon realized it was… a pokemon. A Clefairy, if I`m correct. Pokemon exited the machine and fell on the floor completely exhausted. I approached the powerless body to look closer. Clefairy didn`t have any scratches or wounds but its skin was very pale and the pokemon itself seemed to be just very tired.
"Misty!" I called my companion. "Misty, come here!"
She quickly ran to me with a very worried look on her face. Despite Bill being her ex she seemed to care about him anyway.
"A pokemon? What is it doing here?"
"I don`t know, he was in that right… machine…" I pointed at the left device where Clefairy appeared from. Misty looked at it attentively and then returned her look on the pokemon in front of us.
"Maybe this is one of his experiments…" She suggested.
"We must help him." I put my hand inside greatcoat to find some potions. "Hope this will help."
I sprayed the potion on Clefairy and it seemed to work immediately; the skin became brightly pink and pokemon managed to get up. He looked around with so blank look I thought him to be a newborn. Who knows – maybe this machine is an egg incubator of some sort? But when Clefairy looked at his hands he was very scared and made a squeak.
"Hey, calm down. You are Bill`s pokemon?" I asked Clefairy. He stared at me but didn't reply in any way.
"We mean you no harm, little one." Misty tried to comfort this pokemon. Maybe she was better at this because Clefairy actually called down when saw her. "Do you know where your master is?"
The pokemon turned away from her and looked around again. After some seconds he rushed to the workbench, jumped on it and took a piece of chalk. We watched over these strange actions and tried to understand what it is. I thought maybe he is hungry but instead of chewing the chalk he started to scratch the desk with it.
Misty approached strange pokemon to take a closer look to his actions and very soon she made a scared cry. I followed her and looked at the table too.
There was a writing on the desk made by Clefairy.
It`s me, Bill.