By: PiperSpoon13
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or the characters I just enjoy enhancing the back stories to my own twisted fantasy
Summery: Butch and Cassidy and how they ended up wrapped up in the crime of team rocket.
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Winter was over, but it was still chilly at night. Butch had been coughing in his sleep for some time now. I would tell him it was those cigarettes, but the ones I gave him were long gone, and he hadn't smoked since. I snuggled up next to him. It felt safe there; even if, his coughing woke me up every hour. One morning he seemed really fatigue, but he was fighting it all the way. "Butch" I said sternly, "You're not leaving this tent until you get this cough under control"
"I'm fine" he choked out before coughing again. He lay back down harshly. "Alright" he said, his voice really strachy.”You win."
"I'm gonna go get you some cold medicine, I'll be right back." I was about to leave before he firmly but gently grabbed my wrist.
"You be careful, OK. Only take a twenty that should cover it and if you’re not back in 3 hours I'm going after you." his voice was very authoritative but I had a feeling it had to do with the promise he made Jackson. I nodded and climbed out of the ragged tent. The zipper was difficult and the rods were getting brittle we're going to have to replace it soon. I ran all the way to the nearest store. After finding the cold/sinus and whatever section, I read each box carefully before settling on a box saying it helps symptoms of coughing, sneezing, congestion, and low fevers. I got to the register and the cashier asked for ID, panicking I stuttered out "My mom didn't know I needed ID she sent me in to get it cause she wasn't feeling well." but my lies didn't help. I left the store irritably just to go in the opposite door and back to where the cold meds were. I couldn't believe what I was about to do. Looking around to be sure no one was looking I shoved two boxes in my zip-up sweater pockets, and casually bought a few candy bars at another register and walked out. On the way back I tried to justify my thievery 'What am I supposed to do Butch is pretty sick and the stupid cashier won't let me buy it without an ID, and there's no way I can tell them the truth. Police will be called, and we both will be sent home never to see each other again. I never had thought of that, all this time I thought going home will just mean dealing with Kenneth but it also meant I would never see Butch again, I couldn't live with ether.' Once back in the tent I got his half full bottle of water out; he was asleep somewhat. His breathing was raspy, and he had started to sweat. "Butch" I said quietly as not to wake him if he was sleeping deep, but he looked up with a 'huh'. "I got you some cold medicine I said handing over two pills and his water. He sat up just enough to take them before rolling over back to sleep. It was a week before he made a full recovery and complaining about his cigarette craving, once more.
Time seemed to go by so fast. Even if we did the same thing every day, it still seemed different from the towns we went through to the different kinds of Pokémon we saw. By June, Butch was going though another growth-spar and his once fitting pants were now flooding. My clothes weren't fitting right anymore ether my pants had gotten significantly tighter in the hips and my torso was a whole different problem. "Butch it's been six months we need new clothes; I'm not saying we need anything flashy but...” he smiled.
"I'm so glad you said something. We can pick up something at the next Ditto-Mart. We can get them separately if you want." I nodded slightly embarrassed; he seemed to know my little dilemma. "We also need a need a new tent the one we have was leaking in the rain last night. We walked until late afternoon before we found the store. Before separating he said "when you finished picking stuff out meet me in the sporting goods. We trying to keep it under twenty-five but if you need more don't worry about it. I know you probably need more things than I do" he said awkwardly digging his toes into the ground. I nodded before heading to the junior section. The jeans hung up on display were stylish but felt too thin; if I was to trip, a hole would form right through them. Finally I found some plain Levis on the shelf. I had looked on the tag of my pants, size 14. I then pulled out a size fourteen of the Levis. There had to be some sort of mistake. I don't think these would fit me if I was forty.
A lady in a red vest with lots of different Pokémon pins on it, "Can I help you?" she asked kindly.
"Yeah...uh... this is the first time shopping without my mom and I need a slightly bigger size. These are 14s and so are these" I said holding up the large pants. The lady let out a chuckle before saying. "Those must be kids. Here try these." She said handing me a size 4P. I took the pants they looked like they might fit. The woman then pointed out the fitting room. After thanking her, I begin looking for a t-shirt. Picking one out was harder than I thought all they had was very thin shirts that I knew wouldn't be appropriate for the amount of traveling we do. I then assumed the shirts I would be looking for would be on the shelf too rather than display. There were solid colored polo shirts; I chose a black. Assuming the sizing was different again I got the smallest they had XS. After picking a new bra I tried everything on and to my surprise, everything fit for the most part. The jeans were a little big in the waist but not so much I needed a different size. I also added a light blue sweater but thought better of it summers on its way and I had more growing to do, more than likely. Butch was already waiting by the tents and picked out a single that seemed more durable than the one we had even when it was new; it was also the same price. When we got to the register the cashier seemed to be zoning in and out of sleep as if he had been standing there for the last eight hours. The cashier took our money. He seemed to care little about who we were or what we were buying. I decided to take the chance and try to score Butch some cigarettes so he would be less cranky like he's been for the last month or so now. "Hey Bob," Butch looked up at me wondering what I was up to. I continued, "Didn't Dad say to bring him home a carton of cigarettes."
Catching my drift he said, "Yeah the Camels right there" he pointed. As I had thought he rang them up without question and we paid. As we were leaving I could have sworn I heard the boy being yelled at for his failure to card us. I felt a little bad but told myself it was his fault for being so out of it; we just took advantage of the opportunity.
___________________________________________________We continued our running around mindlessly. Although no love confessions had been announced out loud; we had found ourselves making out in the tent that was still roomy with our new sleeping arrangements, side by side with little and sometimes no space between us. Life seemed to go on without us. I'd had lost track of how far I was from home, and I had lost caring. The main thing I worried about was trying the make the last seventy-five dollars out of the five-hundred we got a year before. We usually went though about twenty-five a month if you include food, water, and misalliance items such as Cassidy's "chick stuff", and the occasional lighter for camp fires and my daily cigarettes which were seemed to be running out too. That leaves us maybe four months if we're very conservative on food, which won't be a problem for Cassidy but might be for me.
"Butch" my thoughts were interrupted by Cassidy who seemed to stop walking. I looked back at her and she points out a small narrow trail. It seemed to be abandoned and unkept for at least a decade. Together we followed the new found trail up to an old shack that looked like it hasn't been occupied in at least twenty some odd years. With a mixture of uncertainty and excitement, I walked up to the door. The porch seemed like it was about to fall out from under me but stood. I then knocked at the door to make sure there wasn't a crazy old man hiding within it. After no answer for a minute or so I jiggled the knob; the door came right open. Stepping in I motioned Cassidy to follow. The place was partly furnished. There was a floral designed couch in the middle of the room a bed in the corner and a small kitchen in the back. Everything else seemed broken. The TV’s glass was shattered. If the place ever had electricity it was shut of long ago, but it was a far better residence than our traveling tent. We could actually stay in one place for once. A tent sitting not too far off a high way is suspicious enough much less for a week or so. I was sick of walking forever every day and so was Cassidy. We were close enough to the town to easily get supplies but far enough away where we would be left alone. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking” she said looking up to me with a grin.
If she was thinking that we could stay here instead of the tent we been carrying around for the past eight-teen months she’ll be right. “I think so.” I replied walking deeper in to the shack. “Why don’t we take a look around; I think a hear a river somewhere in the back.”
“All right but you need to be careful; I’m not a great swimmer so we’re both screwed if you fall in” she said, walking around the shabby structure. After telling her to watch her step, I went out back. I was right there was a river back there but the water was so grimy I wouldn’t risk drinking it or Cassidy. There was also a pear tree in the back they looked nice and ripe for early spring and I picked two up that had fallen. “So are we staying?” She asked me when I walked back in.
“For a while until we figure out what to do about our money situation” she had to know after a year we will be running low again.
"What are we gonna do, Your not as cute as you used to be...Well..not to the old folks." she said giving me an odd look I caught myself blushing a bit at this, but she was right; we couldn't pull the poke-scout thing again. I was almost fourteen and she was almost thirteen. She also wasn't the stick figure pig-tailed girl that showed up at my window ether; even if, she still were her hair the same. Searching though my mind, I had nothing I could tell her. I had no ideas or ways to get a hold of money, so I decided to change the subject.
"The water in the river doesn’t look safe, but there is a pear tree." I said giving her one of the pears I had picked up. I had already taken a bite of mine it was a little tart but better than any thing we would have to travel with. "So what have you found in here." She then walked across the room.
"In the closet I found fishing gear but I don't feel like carp. There's also a box with a bunch of photos and letters; I haven’t looked at them because I thought you should be here before we start tampering with this guys stuff. The kitchens pretty useless I found a Weedle and Kakuna family in the broken ice box. We probably should just leave them alone. I found also found Caterpie in the couch; I bet there‘s more where he came from. The bed is shot., but the floor seems surprisingly seems to be the only thing that doesn't have a lot of problems. I think we should look though the letter box to find out if this persons coming back or not." So we sat down on the floor as not to fall though the bed or disturb the Catterpi living in the couch. The first thing we found in the box was a picture of a man in a hat with all kinds of hooks attached to it. He was in his early fifties and holding a gigantic Magikarp triumply in his arms; it seemed to be the same river as crystal clean. The next time it was a journal. It seemed to be written by the fisher but never sent. It seemed to be to his wife and described all the fish he caught on a day to day basis it was dated in the summer but it didn't have a year but I assume it was at least a decade ago. Skimming though it I found out the water is bad all the Magikarp that lived in it died and then the entrees stopped. "It's a good thing you didn't drink that water” Cassidy said gravely.
"So this guy was at least fifty and he makes a living of Magikarp and the river back there is empty. I don't think he's coming back. I guess we could stay for as long as we need to." I said a little more happily. At least we knew no one will bust in and find us; the guy had to be at least 60 now and probably couldn't brave the wilderness much less come out to a place where the water was poisoned.