Chapter 2 Pokˇmon League Village James looked around nervously as he left the village, and moved inch by inch further from the village with his backpack. Jessica appeared behind James, and James, seeing Jessica from the corner of his eye, looked as if he took no notice of her, started walking at a normal pace, and James carefully took a silenced pistol out from his pocket. Jessica started whistling to a tune. James realised that it was the tune to the customisable team rocket anthem. That did it. James knew that Jessie was right here, and Jessie knew that James was right here. James twirled around quickly and fired twice. The first bullet missed Jessie, but the second went into her stomach. With one hand she held her bleeding stomach, with the other hand she drew another silenced pistol and aimed it at JamesÕ head. Neither Jessie nor James pressed the trigger. "So, James, that was surprising. I see you didnÕt steal those badges like I did to get here. The boss will be here any second. Move, and I shoot." Jessie was discombobulated from the shot, but seemed to be smiling. However, another person came, a teenager came with light brown hair and a green backpack. James recognised him as Richard. Jessie wasnÕt looking in the same direction, but heard someone walking. "HereÕs the boss," Jessie lied. James looked like he was watching Giovanni/Hideyoshi but was winking a little to Richard. Richard stared in question. James nodded, while lying to Jessie, "yes, youÕre right. IÕm going to get killed now." Richard got out a pokˇmon. It was a Butterfree. Richard whispered to it. The Butterfree got up and high above Jessie so the flapping of its wings was not heard. Jessie looked rather surprised. "James, whatÕs the expectant face? You look good for a doomed individual." A burst of yellow powder surrounded Jessie. Jessie lay face down suddenly, muffled by the ground. She was alive, but she was paralysed from the bottom of the neck and downward. The Butterfree had used stun spore. James put up his hands whilst putting down his gun. Richard put on a rubber glove, and took JamesÕ gun. He put it beside Jessie. "Tell me what has happened, Jameson. If you give me no good explanation for doing this, Happy will stun you and Officer Jenny will lock you up for assault." Richie, while talking, was looking threatening. "I am James. A while ago, I snuck out of team rocket with this disguise and took most of my college funds to illegally bribe an organised crime group to clear my criminal record. I got 8 badges with my best pokˇmon-Raticate, Weezing, Gyarados and Victreebell. Team rocket want to eliminate me. This is my first presence in the league tournament, and Giovanni and Jessie have now recognised me as James when they got to the league. I carry a gun with me for protection. I will discard it soon to blank out evidence. Jessie had appeared from behind me. I shot her, but she survived and threatened to shoot me, and thatÕs where you came in." Richard was looking into his eyes. "YouÕre telling the truth. Okay, IÕll help you, but donÕt tell anyone about this." "Good," James commented, picking his gun back up and holstering it into his bag. 40-year old Giovanni was at the end of his tether, although he didn't show it. "Hey, Hideyoshi, I got something for you." It was Mindy, the person he was meant to kill before he was meant to kill Jameson. He was sitting down on his bed, reading his newspaper. Mindy was pulling down the paper. This was a problem, Giovanni thought. If I wasn't meant to kill her, I would not hesitate anything, just get right to a relationship. And she-was madly in love with me, Hideyoshi thought. Mindy was smiling widely. "Hideyoshi, I organised a dinner for 2 at a restarant in Saffron tomorrow. Just the 2 of us." Giovanni breathed heavily and nervously. This is perfect, he thought, just perfect. Mindy and Giovanni were about the same age, and they were both in love. Giovanni let go of the newspaper. He still had one more day before his next business proposition with Team Rocket, so he still had the remainder of the evening. "Alright. Let's set off to Saffron first thing tomorrow. Today, it's your turn to make dinner." Hideyoshi/Giovanni was smiling as he replied, "okay. Noodles and Soy sauce for the both of us. First though, I need to go-to the washroom!" Mindy was giggling. When Hideyoshi reached the bathroom, he washed his hands, then spied his black coat, hanging from a rack in one corner of the bathroom. Giovanni got his things together-his rubber gloves, his gun, and his sanity. Giovanni sighed, then mumbled some curses. I might as well get on with it now, he thought soberly as he strapped on the gloves and picked up the silenced pistol. "What's that cursing I'm hearing? Did you block the toilet again?" It was Mindy again, alive-but not for long. Giovanni cautiously opened the door. Mindy had her back turned. She did not know what hit her as the bullet entered her head. She died before she could scream. Giovanni bit his upper lip and put down the gun beside Mindy's head, now on the ground and bleeding, and Giovanni then moved her arm beside the gun and her battered head. Giovanni put her fingers on the trigger lightly without pushing it and then stared at his bloody hands and felt like throwing up. Enough, Giovanni thought as he headed to the coat rack and put his gloves in one of Mindy's coat pockets and put on his own big, black coat. He then quietly left the building, going out the door and into a street at sunset. "That was professional," Giovanni spat as he walked out of the Pokˇmon League village. James and Richard were both wearing rubber gloves and carrying the twitching, conscious and bandaged form of Jessie on each otherÕs shoulders. James was contemplating how to get past the situation to Richard. "We canÕt allow Jessie to die, doing so would jeapordize our own lives as she is a senior rocket and it would cause serious investigation among the police, so we just bring her to the hospital in pokˇmon league village. You see, if Jessie tells anyone, that would be breaking the law of team rocket, so for the moment we are safe. If we find Hideyoshi, we have to drop Jessie and run. Understand?" Richard slowly and nervously nodded his head. After a bit of walking, Jessie, who was now on top of Richard and JamesÕ shoulders was still alive and councious with the same breathing. She was stable. By now they had arrived at the league village. James whispered, "Make it look like Jessie shot herself. Cause a panic so the investigators wonÕt contemplate our presence." Richard put the body down and took off his gloves. James took his gun, fired it in the air, and fitted it onto JessieÕs twitching hand. "ItÕs an emergency!" Richard yelled out loud at the top of his voice as James took off his rubber gloves and held them on one hand. James grabbed Richard by the hair and ran with him. Already the people in the league village were panicking, but nobody had seen Richard or James run off. "Richard, can you swim?" James and Richard were running at an equal pace. Richard answered, "yes, I can swim." "Richard, whatever you do, do what I do," James stated. What James did was run into the forest, towards the edge of the plateau. "We have to get into the water to make well our escape," James noted, "at the edge where IÕm heading the length we will fall down to get to the water will not cause us to smash when we arrive at the surface. Just run off the edge and weÕll be all right. DonÕt bellyflop, cannonball or get tangled in your legs-" but James couldnÕt finish because, at the time James was talking about definite survival, he and Richard suddenly fell off the peak. It wasnÕt a great fall, only about 25m before James and Richard landed on the surface of the water. "However far we jumped, IÕm not jumping again," Richard commented, spitting out water. The surface was right in front of them, and Richard had already awam towards it and climbed up. "IÕm going home now." Richard left, running quickly away. James got up onto the surface with his now-wet backpack, lying down and flushing with relief. *** *** Character traits *** *** 1. Ash Age: 15 Gender: Male Looks: Black hair, round, stern face and thin, tallish build. Normally wears a red shirt and black padded expensive vest with brown trousers. Friends: Misty, Brock, Tracey, his pokˇmon (Raichu, Gyarados, Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, Kingler, Muk, Pidgeot) Enemies: Gary, Jessie, James, Giovanni, most of his other rival trainers (such as Mandy and Melissa) Personality: mixed. Tends to be more passive, though, than in his preteenage years. *** *** *** ***