Near the Rocket Slayers Headquarters, at a nearby stream, Pikamew was happily splashing around in the water, and catching some fish while at it. It kept playing until it heard the faint sound of a tower clock striking an hour. Midnight. Pikamew looked up immediately. It knew where it had to be. In an instant, Pikamew had flown away.
James felt like the whole room was spinning. His breathing was getting worse, too. He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He let out a long sigh.
"I wonder if I'll ever see anyone again... And now, I'll never have the chance to tell Jessie how I..." He felt tears coming to his eyes. "...how much I love her..." One tear fell loose. "What am I saying?! Never?! I will not give up hope! I am getting out of here!" He sat up, which brought on a ton of sharp pain to his stomach. He fought through it, until he was up, then slouched over. As he was catching his breath, he heard soft foot steps walking in the room. They were coming to him! He froze. Then, he felt something fuzzy touching his hands. He almost screamed. But then, he heard his hancuffs click. He brought his hands out in front of him. His hands... were free!
"Pikamew..." Pikamew said happily. James laughed in relief.
Cassidy stared at the pokeballs. As she stared, she tried to think of how heach pokemon could get her out of there. She threw one of the pokeballs.
"Pokemon, go!"
And out popped Meowth.
"Meowth? What are you doing here?"
"I'd put dat very same question ta you!" Meowth replied. "Where am I, and where's James?" Meowth looked around the dark, dirty jail cell.
"We're trapped in the Rocket Slayers Headquarters. James was taken someplace else in the building to be killed..." Cassidy answered.
"Who are da Rocket Slayers?"
"Well, it seems to me that they're just a bunch of people who hate Team Rocket, so they're trying to kill every last one of us..." Cassidy sighed.
"Well, if dey took James ta be killed... I can't let dem do it! I gotta find him!" Meowth squeezed his body through the bars, and he was off, searching for James. Hopefully, the living James.
"Meowth! Wait!" Cassidy yelled after him, but was too late.
Meowth snuck around the dark building. Everyone was gone. He came to a door that was slightly open. He pushed open the door the rest of the way, and gasped in surprise. Lying on the floor were six Team Rocket members. They were all dead. Meowth begged for James not to be in this room as he walked around, trying to identify each person.
"Few..." he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "None are James..." he walked out of the room and quietly returned to his search.
"That must be it! Guards are standing everywhere!" Clint pointed out into the distance.
"That's them alright..." Mondo decided after looking at them through his binoculars.
"Hey, just incase they decide to come for us, let's release our pokemon. If we tell them what's going on, they'll know what to do, and they won't be stolen," Kazuyuki instructed, releasing his pokemon.
"Good idea..." Mondo and Clint also released their pokemon.
After they explained everything to their pokemon, they moved closer to the Rocket Slayers Headquarters. When they assumed they were close enough, they split up.
Clint went to find the nearest phone to report these people to the police.
Mondo stayed, hiding in the forest.
Kazuyuki was the one who was going in. The entire building was surrounded by guards. And not just any guards... huge, muscular guards, who looked about ready to kill anything that bothered them.
"Wow... they really don't want anyone getting in there... do they?" Kazuyuki was trying to think of a plan. Suddenly, an idea came to him. Well, the only way this can work, is if I show myself to the guards. Then, enough of them will run after me, so that Mondo can sneak in... Yeah! It's risky, and I might get hurt, but it's worth a try!" Kazuyuki took a deep breath, then ran out into the open.
"Hey, jerks! Over here!" Kazuyuki jumped up and down. A Rocket Slayers guard pulled out a radio and talked into it. Suddenly, a group of ten huge Rocket Slayers members charged at Kazuyuki. None were any of the guards. "Damn it! My plan backfired!" He ran for dear life.
Mondo watched, sweating because he was so scared. He moved in closer though, because the guards weren't paying much attention to the unknown anymore. They were laughing at Kazuyuki. Mondo was now right behind a bush that was in front of one of the guards. That particular guard was laughing the hardest, and not paying attention to anything. Mondo decided to take the chance and quickly crawl by. It worked! He was in! Suddenly, a deafning alarm went off. And before he could take another step, a group of Rocket Slayers had already grabbed him.
Cassidy was still sitting up, trying to figure out how to get out. She heard the door open. A guard walked up the hallway. He was coming for her! She quickly hid everything and lied down, pretending she was asleep. The guard opened the cell across from her's and threw someone in. Then, he walked back down the hall and slammed the door.
Cassidy sat up and grabbed the flashlight from out of James' backpack. She shone it into the cell across from her.
"Mondo?! How did you get here?" Cassidy asked, surprised to see him.
"Kazuyuki, Clint, and I were trying to get inside to save you and James. I got inside, but not the way I wanted to..." Mondo sat in a corner and hugged his knees.
After searching for about an hour, Clint came upon something even better than a phone! He found Officer Jenny! He ran in front of her, and explained everything to her.
"... and they're gonna kill my friends!"
Jenny's eyes got wide. "That's terrible!" She picked up a radio and notified some police men about it.
"Lead me to this place!"
Clint led Jenny back to the Rocket Slayers Headquarters.
*****
James had been sitting quietly with Pikamew, who had fallen asleep on his lap. He was trying to come up with a plan to get himself out of there... but all plans required walking. And even if her didn't walk and just used his arms to drag himself around, he'd be too slow. Plus, his back was in intense pain from being punched around. He could try to hop... yes! That's what he decided. He would hop. After he put Pikamew down, he backed himself against the wall and tried to pull himself up. Suddenly, the door swung open. James became white with fear.
"James! It's you! You're alive!" Meowth ran over to James.
"Are ya okay?"
James relaxed upon seeing his friend, Meowth.
"Meowth! I'm so happy to see you!"
Meowth smiled. "Come on, James. Let's get outta here!"
"It's not that simple. My leg is broken. I can't walk," James continued pulling himself to a stand.
"You can hop, right?"
James nodded.
"Den come on! We gotta get outta here fast!"
"Okay... Pikamew, wake up," James bent down and tapped Pikamew. It woke up and yawned a bit. After stretching, it floated.
"What's dat ting?" Meowti asked.
"That's Pikamew, the pokemon the Boss wanted us to capture for him. But, I don't want to capture it. It deserves to be free."
Pikamew giggled, then flew away.
"Plus, it always flies away," James sighed.
Meowth peeked out the door. "We can go! No one's around! Hurry up, James!"
James hopped to the door.
*****
Kazuyuki had been using a number of karate moves, but the guards knew karate, too. Since he was smaller than the guards, he could outrun them, but they kept blocking him. His legs were beginning to get very tired, but he tried to keep running. But then, he must've been going a little too slow, because a guard grabbed him.
"Now where ya gonna run?" the guard laughed. A few other guards ran over and surrounded him. The guard that was holding him threw Kazuyuki on the ground. Hard. "Goodnight, little Rocket," the guard said, pointing a gun at Kazuyuki.
"Oh god... this is it..." Kazuyuki froze in fear. His life was passing before his eyes. The guard pulled the trigger. A second later, all of the guards were laughing as Kazuyuki let out his last ounce of breath. He fell to the ground. Dead. The guards kicked him around, just for laughs. Then they picked him up and took him to the room where they kept the dead bodies.
Cassidy and Mondo had been talking to each other about how they could plan their escape. Then, they heard the door open. They rushed to their beds and pretended they were sleeping.
The guard walked down the hall, past Cassidy and Mondo's cells. Mondo opened his eyes and saw the guard carrying Kazuyuki. He was not moving at all. Mondo gasped in fright.
"No! Kazuyuki can't be... he just can't be... dead..." Mondo tried to deny it. He wished he could find out for certain.
The guard walked back down the hall and left. Mondo and Cassidy flew out of their beds and grabbed onto the cell bars.
"Did you see that?! Wasn't he one of the guys in your group?"
"Yeah, I saw it..." Mondo said quietly. He tried to hold back tears.
"That's what's going to happen to us if we don't get out of here now!"
"But, Cassidy... how do you know for certain that Kazuyuki is...dead?"
"Because, a little earlier, a guard shot a guy in the cell next to me. He left the guy in the cell, but shortly after, another guard came in and took the guy out of the cell. He threw him in that same room over there..." she pointed to the room.
"Do you think... James is in there too?"
"I really have no clue, Mondo. All I know, is Arbok is getting us out of here! Arbok! Go!" she threw Arbok's pokeball.
Mondo gasped. "You didn't tell me you had Jessie's Arbok!"
"So?" she shrugged. "It doesn't matter if it belongs to the king of the universe! If it'll help us get out, I'm using it!"
Mondo looked away. "Whatever..."
*****
Clint and Officer Jenny were approaching the Rocket Slayers Headquarters. Clint led Jenny to where their backpacks and pokeballs were left.
"Do I come with you, or should I stay here for back up?" Clint asked, putting on his backpack.
"Stay here. If they're trying to kill members of Team Rocket, they'll go after you for sure. Once I get things under control, I want you to go in there, and find any living Team Rocket member," she instructed. "Get them all out of there! I'm going to arrest every one of these killers, then burn the building. The building is going down as soon as the other police officers get here, so hurry!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
When the guards saw Officer Jenny running up to the headquarters, their jaws dropped.
"How the hell did Jenny find this place?!" one whispered to another.
"This is bad..." the other responded. Jenny walked up to one.
"So, I hear you kill and imprison people from a certain group called Team Rocket?!"
"No, ma'am. This is an official place of business. We are fully against violence," the guard answered.
"Then, I guess you wouldn't mind if I went in there and searched around?"
"Of course we don't mind. Go right on in..."
Jenny gave the guard a weird look. "I would like to speak with the person of highest position!" she ordered.
"You mean, the boss?"
"Yes. Whoever is in charge of the organization," she pushed past the guard. "Bring me to him now!"
"Yes, officer..." the guard reluctantly led Jenny to his boss.
"Come on, James! Not anada rest!"
"I'm going as fast as I can! Do you know how hard it is to get around when your body has been beaten up constantly? I had trouble sitting up, and you expect me to just be able to keep up with you?!" James sat down and sighed. "Just let me rest for a minute..." he clenched his fists. His whole body was in intense pain.
"Someone could be walkin' around da corna any minute now! Get up!" Meowth revealed his claws. Then, he got as white as a ghost. James looked up at him.
"What's wrong, Meowth?"
"I tink I spoke too soon..." he pointed up at two figures down the hallway. They were running towards them! James' face was soon the same color as Meowth's. They were coming closer. Meowth and James shreiked. The other two shreiked, too. Meowth scratch attacked the two others, out of fear. A girl screamed.
"Oww!!"
"Cassidy?" James asked. "Is that you?"
"James!" Mondo dove to the ground. "You're alive!" he wrapped his arms around James and hugged him tight.
"Mondo! Don't do that! Mondo! Stop it! I said stop it! My whole body's in pain!"
"Oh... sorry..." Mondo let go. James was shaking. Mondo grabbed James' backpack off of Cassidy's back.
"Hey!"
"Here's your backpack, James. Your pokemon are in here, too," Mondo handed the backpack to James.
"James, get up! Mondo, you too! There is no telling how many traps are in here, so we have to be careful, but we have to move fast!" Cassidy yelled.
Mondo put his finger to his lips, "Shhh... quiet, or we'll be captured again!" he whispered.
"Well, I'm all for the careful part, but I can't help you with the fast part," James sighed.
"And why is that?" Cassidy stomped her foot.
"My leg is broken! You knew that!!"
Mondo gasped. "How'd you break your leg?"
"Bobby broke it. He was the one who was supposed to kill me."
Cassidy sat down next to James and pouted. "What do you expect we do now?"
Meowth smirked. "I tink you and James aught ta kiss. You two look good tagedda!"
James shuddered at the thought. Cassidy went into a deeper pout.
"Yeah right. Like me and idiot would go good together? I don't think so!"
Mondo was trying to hold in a laugh.
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Cassidy stood up. "We gotta get out of here, and I'm not waiting around for some dumb handicap to stand up! Come on!" she wrapped her arms around James and pulled him to a stand. He whined at the pain it caused. "Stop your whining!" she grabbed him by his collar and pulled him along. He tried not to fall over as he quickly hopped along.
*****
"The boss will be here in a few minutes. We had to wake him up," the guard opened the door to his boss's office. Jenny walked in. The guard turned on the light, then turned to walk away. Jenny grabbed his shoulder.
"Oh, no. I'm not being left in this place alone. I know your type! You were going to just leave me here to be caught in a trap or something!"
"Jeeze.." he thought. "Ma'am, we would never do such a thing..."
"Just stay here!"
A few minutes later, Jason walked in.
"What is it you wanted to tell me that couldn't wait until morning?!" Jason yelled at the guard.
"Sir, Officer Jenny would like to speak to you."
Jason quickly looked to Jenny. The guard turned and walked out of the room.
"Yes, officer? What may I do for you?"
"I just had a report that your people have been kidnapping people from a certain group called Team Rocket, and imprisoning them here. Then, you kill them!"
Jason gave her a shocked expression. "Officer Jenny, I assure you that nothing of the sort goes on within the walls of this building, or within the minds of my wonderful employees."
Jenny's pager beeped. She looked at it. "Okay, sir. Would you please lead me outside?"
"Of course, officer." Jason walked to the door and opened it. He walked out. Jenny followed.
When they got outside, Clint ran right in front of Jason. He was wearing a police uniform.
"Freeze!" He held a gun up at Jason. Jenny gave Clint a thumbs up.
"Excuse me," Jason began, "but may I ask, why you are doing this?"
"You are being accuased of murdering hundreds of innocent people!" Clint yelled. Hundereds of police officers suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Jason's face dropped. Clint decided to take advantage of the situation. He ran inside.
Mondo, James, Cassidy, and Meowth were making their way slowly down the dark hallway.
"James! Can't you move any faster!" Cassidy pulled on James just a little too hard. He fell on top of her. They both screamed.
"Get off of me!"
"You made me fall on you!"
"You sicko!"
"Yuck!!"
Mondo and Meowth sweatdropped. Mondo pulled James to a stand. Meowth scratched Cassidy's face.
"Let's just keep going! Does anyone know where we are?" Mondo walked ahead.
"Actually, for all I know, we've probably been walking around in circles all this time!" Cassidy said, angrilly.
Suddenly, they heard someone walking, fast, down the hallway. They all froze. A flashlight shone in their faces.
"Mondo! James! It's you! I found you!" Clint said excitedly. James and Mondo gasped.
"Clint! You're here!" Mondo jumped up.
"Get us out!" Meowth ordered.
"Okay, but hold it a sec. Where's Kazuyuki?" Clint asked.
"Um..." Mondo hesitated.
"He was killed..." Cassidy answered.
Clint's jaw dropped. "He... was... killed?"
Mondo nodded.
James also dropped his jaw. "Kazuyuki?! No!"
"But, we can't worry about that right now! That's in the past. It doesn't matter! What does matter, is us getting out of here!" Cassidy yelled. As soon as Cassidy finished saying that, there was a huge explosion.
"Oh my god!" Mondo screamed.
"Wow! When Officer Jenny says fast, she sure does mean it!" Clint joked.
"Let's get outta dis joint!" Meowth hugged Cassidy's leg. Cassidy sweatdropped.
As they ran down the hallway, the flames were spreading, which was making it hotter, and harder to breathe. The ceiling colloapsed, almost landing on Mondo. James dove at Mondo to push him out of the way.
"Thanks, James," Mondo said. He jumped to a stand and pulled James up. James began to hop away.
"Hurry up!" he continued hopping as fast as he could. The others chased after him.
"I know the way out! Clint ran ahead. "Follow me!!"
There was another explosion. Flames burst right in front of Cassidy. She stopped short, screamed, and grabbed onto whoever was behind her.
"Let go of me!!!" James was just as scared. He pulled her off of him.
"Hey, guys! You back there?!" Clint yelled in a very scared tone of voice. He was on the other side from where the others were.
"We're all back here!" Meowth responed.
"How do we get out of here now?! We're surrounded by flames!" Mondo freaked out. James felt a deja vu... back to when Jessie was there to comfort him on the St. Anne. Even though he was scared stiff, just thinking of Jessie gave him some courage.
"I got it covered!" Clint yelled back. "Marril, go!" Marril appeared. "Marril, clear out these flames, just enough for everyone to get by!" Marril nodded.
When the fire was cleared out enough, James, Mondo, Cassidy, and Meowth rushed to Clint.
"When did you get a Marril?" Mondo asked.
"It's not mine. It's Kazuyuki's. I got your pokemon in here, too," Clint replied as he returned Marril.
"Yes, Chelsea! This is the Team Rocket Headquarters!" Bobby yelled.
"Okay, do people stay here at night?"
"No..."
"Darn... then burning it would be no fun..." Chelsea pouted.
"Well," Bobby began, "sometimes members sleep in nearby cabins."
"How close is the nearest one?"
"Hmm... maybe 30 minutes away..."
Chelsea sighed. "Do you know how hard it is to be walking around at 3:00 in the morning?!"
"Yeah, I do now."
They walked until they found a cabin.
"Yuck. This place is a dump. The windows are broken, and the trees are snapped... sick! My boss would never give us something like this!"
"Actually, this one used to be really nice. I wonder what happened..." Bobby questioned. They moved around to the windows to the bedroom. They saw two people sleeping. "Jessica!" Bobby recognized the girl on the bed. Those two are Team Rocket members. That girl is James' partner," he pointed.
"Oh? Okay, then... who is that guy?" Chelsea asked, recognizing him for some odd reason.
"Um... I don't know. I can't see him very good..."
Chelsea stared at the guy on the floor. Bobby walked to the back door and opened it.
"Come on, Chelsea. I know the girl, and she's a real jerk. Let's rid the world of her," Bobby snickered sd hr held the door open for Chelsea. They walked into the bedroom. "Jessica... hey! Jessica..." Bobby whispered, gently shaking Jessie.
Chelsea kneeled onto the floor to get a closer look at the guy. She gasped in surprise. "Butch! I don't beleive it..." she gently rubbed her hand over his face.
"Jess! Wake up!" Bobby pushed on Jessie, very hard.
"Stop it!" she whacked him.
"You little brat!" he pulled her hair. She screamed.
"Jessie... what the heck...?" Butch woke up.
"Butch!" Chelsea screamed happily. Butch turned his head. When he saw Chelsea, his jaw dropped.
"Chelsea?! Is it really you?"
"Chelsea, you know that guy?" Bobby asked, letting go of Jessie's hair. Jessie punched at him.
"Of course I know him. He's my cousin," Chelsea smiled. Jessie and Bobby stared whith surprised eyes.
"Butch? You have a cousin?" Jessie asked.
"Yes, Jessie. Like any normal person, I have a cousin," Butch replied. Jessie raised an eyebrow.
"Butch! I don't believe this! It's been so long since I've seen you..." Chelsea hugged Butch tight.
"I know," he returned the hug. "Last time we saw each other, we were... 12... I think."
"Wow... six years... and we were, like, best friends, too!" Chelsea said.
"Chelsea! You're related to a Rocket?!" Bobby yelled.
"Butch works for Team Rocket?!" Chelsea screamed.
"And what, may I ask, is so wrong with Team Rocket?" Jessie asked, folding her arms.
"I work for a group that is trying to get rid of Team Rocket!" Chelsea cried into Butch's shoulder.
Jessie jumped. "Trying to get rid of Team Rocket?! Wasn't the boss saying something about a group of people trying to do that?!"
"Hey... yeah..." Butch's eyes widened. "Chelsea, do you know anything about... a girl with long, bright orange hair, in an... impossible style... and she has... beautiful deep purple eyes..."
"Wait, you said... an impossible style? Anything like this?" Chelsea pulled her hair, trying to imitate Cassidy's hair. Jessie shuddered at the thought of Cassidy.
"That's it!" Butch yelled. "What happened to her?!"
"Well... she... what is she to you anyway?" Chelsea asked.
"She's my partner!" Butch was getting very worried. "What did you do to her?! I want her back!"
