Meowth paced anxiously on the floor of the balloon's basket, walking steadily back then forth, all the while wringing his paws with worry. Stopping mid-stride, the feline gazed up at Mondo, who sat upon the basket rim, his dark eyes full of sadness.
Brushing a tear off his cheek with a gloved fist, the young boy sat in silence, occasionally punctuated by an loud sniffle or two.
Meowth wanted to comfort him, but now time was of the essence and it would only make his job even harder to accomplish. So he only continued his fevered pacing...
"Something...something's wrong.... Dey are taking far too long in dere..." the cat felt great remorse for adding yet another burden to Mondo's heavy heart for him to bear. However, after weighing his decisions, Meowth realized that to prospone the inevitable would be indeed crueler.
"Dey should have been out of dere by now..."
Whimpering, Mondo looked away in a vain attempt to try to hide his obvious tears. His voice was tiny, but poignant with the all the horrors he had witnessed this day. Terrible things he should have been shielded from so early in his young life...
"M-Meowth...are-" he briefly paused to suppress a sob. "Are...they going to...die too?"
Walking towards him, Meowth quickly climbed up the basket wall with his claws, then found himself a foothold on the rim. Placing his paws on the boy's shoulders, the small pokémon shook him gently to get his attention.
"No...not if Meowth has anything to do wit dis..."
Jumping back down, Meowth began rummaging through the boxes of supplies that he had set in the corner of the basket. Tossing aside one box and quickly moving to the other, he kept looking until he found what he had originally begun searching for. Meowth sighed with relief as he began to pull the item out into view...
Mondo's eyes grew large as he pulled back in surprise. "Meowth? Where are you going with that gun?"
Meowth ignored him and instead pulled out a belt with several spare cartridges and strapped it around his tiny waist. The latch clicked loudly as it snapped around him, then he adjusted it so that it fit snugly. The cat grunted as he cocked the firearm in his hand, so as he would be ready for action.
"Meowth! Tell me what you're doing! PLEASE!!!" Mondo gripped his head with his hands in disbelief as he got down from his seat on the rim. He took a few hesitant steps toward him, but was still greatly intimidated by the powerful revolver in his partner's hand, so he stayed a safe distance away.
"I'm going to create a distraction...." Meowth mentally did a quick check of his supplies, then vaulted up and over the basket wall, landing nimbly on his hind paws at the other side.
Beginning to panic at the prospect of being left all alone in broad daylight with no protection, the boy gasped with fright.
"Meowth! Wait! I'll go with you!" Mondo ran to the side of the basket and started to climb up over the side, when Meowth stopped him.
"No, Mondo."
Stopping short, Mondo looked up at him with great confusion in his eyes at the few words his friend had uttered.
"Stay here Mondo...here youse will be safe." Meowth's eyes narrowed into thin slits as he tried to emphasize the importance of this grave order.
Trembling, Mondo tried frantically to reason with him. "No...please let me come! I can help!" Still holding his head, he tried desperately to try to process everything that was happening, trying to combat his dizziness that threatened to make him pass out from angst.
"Youse must STAY HERE!" Meowth shouted, his shrill voice echoing through the field, disturbing some Pidgey's perched in trees outlining Team Rocket property. They squawked angrily for a few seconds before settling back down again.
Whirling around to make sure no one had heard his outburst, Meowth waited several moments before he dared continue...
"Youse must stay here.... its the only way dat I can guarantee youse won't get hurt in da struggle."
Mondo was not convinced in the least. He began to tremble as he knew that this meant the death of Meowth too if he left to go save the others..
"But, Meowth! If you go, you'll die!" he wailed, a fresh stream of tears flooding his cheeks, while he gripped the basket rim so tightly that his knuckles were completely white. He stopped his sobbing momentarily to softly whisper..
"I don't want to lose you too..."
Meowth could not afford to show him any more sympathy right now. If he did not remain unattached from his emotions, there was no way he'd be able to go through with this.
"Mondo..if I don't do dis, Jessie will die!"
That got Mondo's attention immediately, as his head shot up and his eyes widened as big as saucers.
"Mondo... Jessie will die! James will die! Butch will die! Dey will all die if I don't do this!" he made his voice a little softer as he continued..
Slowly shaking his head, Mondo began to softly weep as he knew that what Meowth had to do was the right thing, their only hope for survival.... but still-
"Meowth....why?"
"Why? Because dis is war, Mondo... Now youse know what's happening in dis Team... how corrupted it is...-"
Swallowing hard, Butch inquired further, though he had a sinking feeling in his stomach as to what Jessie would say... It just couldn't be true. It just couldn't...
Could it?
"Please...will you tell me?"
"I...I can't..." was her reply, her voice quivering with sorrow and regret, but Butch refused to take 'no' for an answer.
"Please....Jess... does it have to do with Cass..? If it does-"
"It does, Butch!!" Jessie rudely interrupted as she wiggled out of his grasp. Gazing back at him, she bit her lip as she watched Butch's brown eyes grow wide and his skin grow pale at her harsh, abrupt answer.
"I'm sorry, Butch...but..." her tone grew no-nonsense and matter-of-fact, as if Jessie's own words no longer held any meaning to her...
Butch's heart felt like it had suddenly leaped up into his throat, his fear threatening to strangle him.
"But...?"
"Da Boss' lust for power...none of us knew about dis when we joined...knew he was dat evil... by the time we found out...it was too late to back out-"
James slowly trudged down the hall, as he struggled to keep a straight face. He hoped that it would not betray the confusion that he grappled with right now.
'In a situation like this,' he thought grimly, 'who am I loyal to? Butch is one of my best friends and he needs my help. But the Boss needs my help as well, to protect him and with him, my job. If I help Butch, my job and career are thrown out the window. If I help the Boss, Cassidy will die and for all practical purposes..so will Butch."
Pushing a lock of lavender hair off his face, James sighed deeply as he rounded the corner. No one was around and the staff room for the higher ranking officers was plain in view. 'Perfect.'
Suddenly, James stopped mid-stride, as he stared at the door. Inside was the map Butch needed, Cassidy's salvation...
'I shouldn't be doing this... if I just go back now and tell him I can't do it, then I will have helped neither of them. My conscience will be clear." James felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders at that revelation. He was off the hook.
"James..."
Whirling around, James faced the one person that he dreaded talking to most of all, the one whose life he selfishly decided to forfeit.
"Cass..." he uttered in a strangled gasp....
"What James did...what he chose to do. He involved us all! Jessie, me and youse... we had no choice as to what to do next... it was forced on us! But it was the right decision... Mondo, the right decision!-"
Creeping towards the master bedroom, he clenched his fist against the gun tightly pressed in his palm. Butch paid careful attention to his feet, lest he stumble over a piece of furniture obstructing his path.
He arrived at the door, his wide eyes scanning for one thing and one thing only. Butch raised his eyebrows as he spotted it.
A sleeping form in a huge bed straight ahead of him. Giovanni.
Tiptoeing inches closer, Butch stops as he reaches it, his hands shaking from anxiety as he raises the gun and aims it at the head lying on the large comfortable pillow.
Taking a deep breath and steadying himself, Butch was fully aware of the consequences of his actions, but did not care in the least. Giovanni was oblivious to his gruesome fate, much like Butch's own sleeping love who would have been mercilessly ripped from his arms come daybreak to die....
This... was justice.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is dat we all have to make choices in dis life... to have to courage to stand up for da right one, like Butch and James did, or merely wimp out like Jessie and I did...
It took a lot of guts to do what Butch did...that’s for sure.. Now, I too , have a decision I need to make...-"
"James! How COULD you??" her perturbed tone was full of anger and frustration upon entering, but her hard facade slowly melted as she saw James look up at her from his bed, the sadness of his decision obviously weighing heavily on his heart.
Taking a deep breath, James spoke slowly, since he was still as frightened as she was about the loud gunshot they'd heard only moments before.
"I don't know, Jess. I don't know..I...had to do what I thought was right...I'm sorry. Please understand.."
Crossing to him, Jessie quickly threw her arms around him and held James tightly, while casting worried glances at the door every few seconds. She did not want to let go of him for fear that "they" would come for him any moment now.
Leaning up, Jess brushed his soft lavender hair aside, gently whispering into his ear. "I do, James....but..."
She paused to choke back a terrified sob, realizing what would happen to them now. "I don't want to lose you too!"
"I have to do da right thing... like I should have done from da beginning.. I should have helped him....-"
Then he turned to look back at Butch, with malice in his eyes and a grim smile upon his lips.
Then Butch heard it...
Heavy footsteps coming through the hallway, ever closer to where Butch lay, followed by a noisy squeak..........squeak......squeak....
Butch had heard that noise before on many separate occasions..but all of them were unpleasant memories. Every time he had heard that noise, someone had been taken... taken to where they would never see the light of day again...
And now...they were coming for him...
"Like I said before..after all dat what we've all been through.. I can't just let him die now...not after the hell Butch has been put through-"
Gasping at the surge of precious oxygen finally filling his lungs, Butch opened his eyes to see strong hands reaching out for him. They jerked him roughly off the floor, and in his weakened state, Butch had no power to fight them off. He gasped as they shoved him down on the cold, uncomfortable metal table, then they spread his arms out from his sides.
Two of the officers, held down his flailing arms, as the other two strapped scratchy leather restraints against his wrists, painfully cutting into his skin and ruining any possible chance of escape...
His brain functions numbed by sheer terror, Butch feebly shouted out in protest, though he knew they'd pay no attention to his shouts. "No! Please!"
"Do you understand 'why' now, Mondo? Da Boss must be stopped! Before someone else dies...."
Butch writhed in agony as the burning liquid begin to pulse through his veins like molten lead, but now he was helpless against it, as he began to feel his arms and legs begin to become dead and lifeless from the deadly serum....
It was all over for him now.
"No!!" He moaned as the pain began to surge up his body, up his torso; the darkness, the blackness around him was too much for him to bear! It was overwhelming him, weakening him..
No one was there to hear his frenzied pleas, at least..no one who would care.
Struggling to maintain consciousness, praying for help from anyone who could release him from Giovanni's man-made hell on earth...but it was too late.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!" his eerie moan was cut short as his chest became too paralyzed to move. His eyes slowly fluttered closed, his spirit too weak to fight it anymore...
Butch could no longer even take a shallow breath, yet alone scream...
Mondo nodded weakly, knowing that it was only a matter of time before-
Weeping, he quietly whispered to his partner..his friend. "Go, Meowth....go... but please...take care of yourself..."
Meowth grimly nodded but he was not making any promises; he could not afford to.
"I will...but if I don't come back wit da others...leave without Meowth. Dat's an order... Do youse swear it to me?" his words had a finality to them that made Mondo's stomach twist from nausea. He'd already given up. But what was left to be done?
"I swear it to you Meowth!" he wept, his heart breaking. "I swear it."
And then the little cat silently crept away without another word, off to fulfill his destiny, regardless of whether he was going to his death or not. His friends were the only ones that mattered now. Their fates..were in his paws...
Mondo watched him leave, then he slowly sat back down, his back against the inside of the balloon. He buried his face in his hands and began to sob even harder than before as he knew that Meowth would not be returning with the others... he would not survive that attack that he planned on the boss...
From where he sat was where he would wait for his friends to return to him. Then they would escape this horrible prison together..and not look back.
However, he knew that this had become an hollow victory. For the redemption of one life, they lost two good friends. Friends who were now gone forever, due to an hasty mistake made that fateful night...
But, whoever said the price of love would be easy to bear....?
