I - THE WRATH OF CASH (Doraemon Reimagination Series)

5 - TOUGH CHOICE

It was a long rectangular hall, looking more like a pathway, rather than a room. Cash was sitting comfortably on his chair at the farther end of the place, with his right leg over the other. There were men before him, standing like cold heartless statues. Amidst them, at the centre of everyone's attention, was lying an unconscious, clueless, drained out Nobita.

After a few moments, a slight tremble was observed in his, until then, motionless body. He shook his head, trying to shake off his drowsy unconsciousness from his present state. His eyes slowly slid open, after a few short spanned continuous blinks, and he was grabbed firmly again by a bunch of men, standing there, before he even got back his senses properly.

The men harshly picked him up from the floor, unaware or least bothered to care about the fact that his legs weren't stable enough to take the weight of his body yet. He crawled up, swayed left and right for twice or thrice until he finally got himself up on his feet.

He was completely conscious by then, getting all his senses back. He could feel the steel cuffs around his wrists; the arms of the men holding him near his elbows; the floor under his feet; the agonising pain inside his head; the slight stink in his neck from the syringe plunge; and finally, he saw the men and their boss, Cash sitting right in front of him.
No sooner did he catch a glance of him than he freaked out inside his head. He felt something that overcame all the other emotions and senses. FEAR! He felt fear and panic. He knew that he was in great trouble, like 'Great' great trouble. It didn't take him long enough to realise that something worse was really about to happen, inspecting from the relaxed pose Cash was sitting in on his seat. No worries - no tension of any sort.

Cash stood up on his feet and slowly began walking towards Nobita with a soft smirk on his face. Seeing that, Nobita tried to remain as calm as he possibly could in that dangerous situation...he was a kid after all! What more could you expect?
Cash said, "I'm pretty sure we already know each other's names by now though we haven't officially met until this very moment but first things first! Let's introduce ourselves, alright? I'm Cash- just Cash! What's your name?"

Nobita answered mockingly, "If you already know it then why bother?"

Cash had a sudden anger burst and said, "I ASKED WHAT - IS - YOUR - NAME, KID!"

Nobita startled, closing his eyes on hearing that shout and replied, trying not to shiver though he slightly did,
"N-Nobita...Nobita!"

Cash answered, putting his smile back on again, "Good. That's a really nice name. Now next...I wanted.....," turned around and started walking away.

Finally, gathering some courage, Nobita spoke in his usual volume with a slight tone of straight forwardness and sass in his voice, boldly, "Stop crapping around and get to the point already, Cash."

Cash stopped on hearing that and turned back at Nobita, saying, "Excuse me?" with a confused look on his face. "What did you just say?"

Nobita felt something after saying that, something inside him. He thought for about two seconds --
"Did I just say that? Wow! Why the hell am I scared of this man? I am so much better than this. I can be so much better than this. There's no way I'm gonna let him win. No way I'm gonna let him use innocent animals and turn them into weapons just for making profits in the black market. No way in hell! I promise!!!"

Nobita said, "Well, we both know you brought me in here for a reason right? So, why don't we just skip these crap and get straight to the point.... What do you want from me?"

Cash laughed out and said, "Wise kid. Fine! If that's what you want, you'll have it. I wanted to make things a lot easier on you since you are young, but the thing is I've already made that mistake once. I took you kids lightly but you are the only ones who managed to escape from my high secure facility right under my nose? I gotta give you guys props for that. I'm impressed, which made me realise I should never have treated you and your little buddies lightly when you are the ones who should be given special attention."