Disclaimer: You know what I’m going to say. Anyway, just a reminder, feel free to comment, criticize, or flame me at cats84@usmo.com.
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Sakaki stood at the head of the pyre, his slanted eyes gleaming maliciously.
“Bring her forward,” he ordered.
A struggling Saikobi was brought to him. He nodded and with great difficulty, they chained her down in a reclining position.
The others gasped and watched with grim fascination.
“What are you doing to her?” demanded Musashi.
The only answer was disheartening smile from Sakaki.
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Short and sweet in’t it?
Ep3
Disclaimer: You know what I’m going to say. Anyway, just a reminder, feel free to comment, criticize, or flame me at cats84@usmo.com.
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Satoshi, Kojiro, Kasumi, and Bulbasaur combined their strengths to move the door. Meowth happily dictated over them and watched for anyone who might see them. Like anyone could.
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After the chloroform wore off, Saikobi and Musashi awakened to find themselves locked in a cell with Sakaki smirking sinisterly at them, his face characteristically half hidden by shadow.
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Yamato and Kosaburo barged into the head office and approached the desk. In their haste, they’d forgotten to bow, but what they had to tell the boss was far too important.
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Time passed slowly in the dark cell. Without a clock or a window it was impossible to tell what time of the day or night it was. Musashi felt the need to sleep, but why sleep now when eternal repose was what she had coming? She ached for Kojiro. She’d never get to tell him goodbye.
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Meowth fumed behind the steel bars of his cage. After his capture he’d been put into the chamber with Sakaki’s other Pokemon. He never liked the idea of going back to rescue that stupid little rat. Pikachu’s capture had highlighted his career and had restored his hope of becoming Top Cat again.
There was a tangible tension between Musashi and Kojiro even while they were holding each other close. They both knew what they wanted to say to the other, but neither could summon the courage. They would be dead in a matter of hours, maybe less. It had to come out. And what a perfect time, since everyone else in the cell was asleep.
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Garuda surveyed his area of attack and swooped downwards. He melted into the air, being the supernatural being he was and passed through all the lines of mortal defense, through all the rooms until he found what he’d been searching for. Everywhere he passed, he left a sense of uneasiness in their wicked hearts, a feeling of foreboding, of fear.
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The cell door groaned as it opened, announcing the tragedy soon to befall its occupants.
“If dat’s gold, it’s mine,” declared Meowth, pushing his way through.
Satoshi eagerly followed.
“Wow!” he cried. “You guys should see this!”
The others came through the door reluctantly, taking in everything that the flames illuminated. Ancient script, the same as on the door, covered the stone walls. Faces twisted in ghastly expressions added to the surrealism.
“I’m scared,” whispered Kasumi, holding Togepi so closely it almost choked. “This place is weird.”
“It looks like a temple or something,” noted Kojiro, eyeing an altar raised on a dais. Golden idols glinted invitingly in at its base.
“What’s a temple doing in the middle of Team Rocket Headquarters?” Kasumi asked, staying behind.
“I dunno, but dat gold is mine ,” exclaimed Meowth as he dove for it.
He embraced all that he could and kissed it. His delight was interrupted by an ominous icy wind. It was blowing from a dark hole in the ground, carrying on it chanting in some lost language.
Meowth backed away, preferring the safety of the others to the riches of the temple, or whatever the chamber was.
“I don’t like this,” Satoshi said.
Despite the fact that they considered themselves enemies, Kojiro, Kasumi, Meowth, and Satoshi drew in a circle.
The chants grew louder and faster. Bulbasaur and Charmander raced out. With no light, the experience became more frightening than ever.
The bodiless voices swelled in volume and intensity. A hazy grey-green mist formed over where the hole was.
Not able to stand it, they screamed and fumbled through the darkness to the security of the light.
“So you thought you could escape me,” he whispered, addressing Saikobi. “Foolish girl. You should have stayed in your place.”
“I know my place,” she replied evenly. “And it’s not as your whore.”
“Oh, ouch,” he mocked. “My my my, what a temper we have. No matter. Your insubordination will be dealt with in due time.”
He fixed his attention on Musashi. She hung her head in guilt and was pressed against the corner of the cell.
“And as for you Musashi, I believe you know what will happen to you. I’ll leave you ladies to yourselves, what little time you have left.”
As he strode arrogantly away, he paused at the door.
“Oh, and Musashi,” he added. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed your involvement with Kojiro. Such a shame to have wasted such great potential.”
She flinched at that insult. She pursed her lips tightly to keep from swearing at him and steeled against her anger. But he had already left.
Seeing this, Musashi growled and kicked at the wall.
“What did he mean by ‘what little time we have left?’” asked Saikobi, crossing her arms to keep warm.
“Don’t you get it?” Musashi demanded. “He’s going to kill us! That’s the penalty for treason against him. This is all your fault!”
“My fault? Excuse me, but I didn’t exactly have a choice in this whole thing! I didn’t intend for this to happen! Do you think I would have gotten you in trouble on purpose? It isn’t anybody’s fault except for Sakaki’s.”
She sighed irritably and covered her face with her hand.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Saikobi began. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far. I only meant to save my family.”
Musashi shook her head in reply. Her mind wandered. She was too proud to apologize again. Death faced her now and she was afraid. More afraid than she would ever let anybody know. Even Kojiro. The same organization that had killed her mother, was now going to kill her.
“Sir, we have bad news,” announced Yamato.
His eyebrows cocked, telling them to go on.
“Well our computers have located trespassers,” she continued.
His face hardened.
“Did you apprehend them?”
“Yes. And you won’t believe who they are.”
Saikobi on the other hand, took the blame upon herself and cursed herself. Were her parents going to die anyway if she hadn’t come? Somehow, that was hard to buy. She felt that her attempt at a rescue was a rash plan and it had only ended in misery.
The creak of a door opening to their precint was heard. Musashi and Saikobi looked up anxiously. Was it time?
No. Apparently not. Yamato and Kosaburo had prisoners with them. They shoved them forward into the room, not hesitating to be rough.
“You have company,” said Kosaburo in his nerve grating voice.
They gasped as Satoshi, Kasumi, and Kojiro were thrown in.
“All the more trespassers means all the more fun for us,” sneered Yamato.
The two laughed scornfully as the left.
Musashi couldn’t help herself. She embraced him with such abandon, that everyone else eyes them questioningly.
“What are you doing in here?” Saikobi asked, diverting attention away from Musashi and Kojiro.
“Well, we came back to rescue Pikachu,” explained Kasumi, slumping down on the floor. “We went through the ventilation shafts, but Satoshi fell through a loose part of it. We followed him down, and found this huge door. It was covered with these strange markings and faces....” she shuddered.
Saikobi’s brows furrowed. Team Rocket was undoubtedly trying to hide something.
“And when we opened the door, we found a temple on the other side,” continued Kojiro, who had managed to loosen Musashi’s hold on him. Not that he minded.....
“A temple?” echoed the princess. “What....?”
Then it dawned on her. Sakaki hinted that they were going to be executed. The best way to do that would have to be in secret. With no heir to the royal throne, he’d be free to take over.
“Oh my God,” she said breathlessly.
“What?” questioned Satoshi. “Do you know why it’s there?”
She nodded slowly. “I think so. You’d better sit down before I tell you.”
Satoshi did what he was told and waited.
“I think that’s where Sakaki’s going to,” she choked on her tears, “going to....kill us.”
Dead silence followed. Kasumi drew her knees to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. Satoshi simply stared in disbelief. Musashi and Kojiro wrapped their arms around each other and hung their heads.
No one dared to say anything.
He’s been in Team Rocket long enough to know what became of people who double-crossed Sakaki. His mother Madam Boss, had been no different.
Despite the fact that Meowth had only known Saikobi for 24 hours, he’d become quite attached to her. He was sure why. He’d never allowed himself to get too comfortable around humans. But there was something about her innocence and kindness and her sufferings that clicked with him. He knew she hadn’t meant to get anyone in trouble, but he still couldn’t help being just a bit angry with her. Meowth thought about just giving up.
Kojiro bit his lip nervously and drew in a deep breath.
“Musashi?”
She looked at him with a mix of hope and fear in her eyes.
“Yes?” she said almost too eagerly.
“I just wanted to say that....in all our years together....I....”
“Yes?”
“Well.....you’ve always been my dearest friend...and I’ll never forget what a wonderful dresser you were.”
She gave him a half smile.
“Don’t steal my material,” Musashi chided with evident lack of spirit.
“No, that’s not what I wanted to say,” he said, taking her hands in his own. “What I really wanted to say was.....well...I....wanted to say....I....love you.”
He winced, expecting her to hit him. Instead, her eyes grew saucer sized.
“Really? I...mmm..love you too,” she confessed.
Their attention was drawn away momentarily by Kasumi and Satoshi mumbling something back and forth. At first, they feared they were awake, but on closer inspection, they were only arguing through their sleep.
“Satoshi, if you’re the hero, why don’t you use one of your Pokemon to get us out of here?” Kasumi snapped.
“Mine were stolen like yours were,” he muttered.
“Weird,” commented Musashi. Had Meowth been present, a witty remark would have been made and plenty of faces scratched.
In an unusual act of audacity, Kojiro turned Musashi’s head away from the quibbling children and kissed her.
Garuda reappeared in the prison room. He stalked the rows of cages and came upon Meowth, trying to pick the lock.
The poor cat nearly died of shock when he noticed the creature hovering over him.
“Hey! Help me out here!” Meowth pleaded.
A beam of icy blue shot out from a jewel on Garuda’s forhead, the Eye of Shiva. When that eye opened, destruction was soon to follow. The light blew the cage out and away from Meowth to free him.
“Pretty nifty dere,” he commented in awe, unconsciously rubbing his own powerless charm. “ Come on, let’s get de odder (other) Pokemon outta here!”
Musashi, Kojiro, Saikobi, Kasumi, and Satoshi were rounded up and shackled by shadowy, cowled men and led down a small hidden hallway inside the walls. The air began to smell dank and musty. Ancient. As though the interior hadn’t seen light in eons. The men lit torches that peeled back the thick darkness and revealed those ever present markings on the wall. They were getting close.
Musashi and Kojiro exchanged yearing, sorrowful glances. This would be their last memory of each other.
The lead guard pushed open a wooden door, much smaller than the main one, open at the foor of long flight of stone steps. The temple swallowed them with its vastness. Around the pyre in a cirlce were the black clad members of Rocketto-Dan, Kosaburo and Yamato among them. They appeared to be in heavy concentration and did not notice the lengths to move the door. Meowth happily dictated over them and watched for anyone who might see them. Like anyone could.
