Giovanni slammed the phone onto the receiver with such force that it splintered into shards of plastic and circuits. They had failed again. And this wasn't just an everyday failure. This was their one millionth failure. Jessie, James, and that low-life cat had actually managed to fail one million times. He had a whole warehouse full of records of their past failures. It was impossible. It was stupendous. It was awe inspiring. It was worthy of an epic written by Homer himself. The three idiots who couldn't go get a cup of coffee without screwing it up. Giovanni could write a children's book about it and make millions. Then he could retire, and use his money to build a statue dedicated to the worthless, ungrateful morons who were constantly in his hair. Giovanni slammed his head on his desk, and began to weep. He had not cried since he was seven years old and he'd broken his wrist. But his dad had been there to help him. Giovanni looked up at the portrait of his father. He resembled his son to a remarkable degree; the only difference being the gray and black suit he wore. Although he had been dead for years, Giovanni still felt that his father looked over him from the portrait. Giovanni felt ashamed. His father had once run a successful criminal empire, and here he was crying over three easily replaceable henchmen. What had happened? What sort of mockery was he making of his family name? As he looked into the eyes of the portrait, something dawned on Giovanni. He had been going about his business the entirely wrong way. He remembered the words that his father had said to him on the day of his eighteenth birthday; words he hadn't remembered in decades. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. At that moment, it all became clear to Giovanni. He was straying too far away from the family business. What was he doing with all these scientists, all these stupid Pokemon? At the very best they made half-way decent pets. Taking over the world? What the Hell had he been thinking? That was for cartoon super villains. And what was he to do with these incompetent henchmen? He needed to get his head out of the clouds and start thinking things through. He needed to put all his remaining money back into his olive oil business. For generations, his family had been manufacturing and distributing the finest olive oil money could buy. He looked up at the class case that sat in the corner. Inside of it lay a dusty violin case. It had belonged to his father. Ever since his father had died, he hadn't looked inside it. But that was about to change. Everything was about to change. Giovanni looked stood up from his chair with a look of determination on his face. He went over to the case and unlocked it. He slowly took out the violin case, and brushed the dust off. He left his office and went out to the parking lot. He got into his car, and left the premise. As he drove, he popped a Frank Sinatra disc into the player. He listened as the artist crooned a series of songs in Italian. Giovanni and his father always listened to him whenever they went on a long trip together. At one point Giovanni knew all the words. But they had been lost to time.
The bell rang as the door opened. Bob looked as a man in a bright orange suit entered the hardware store. He had never seen him here before. He didn't look like the kind of guy who would walk into a hardware store anyway.
" Hello stranger. You lookin' for anything in particular?" The man nodded politely.
"You got any cement?" Bob nodded. He pointed the man off into the back, and shortly afterwards he returned with two small bags of cement. Bob checked them out, and the man paid for them in cash.
Giovanni opened up the trunk of his car. There was already one other item in there. It was a shovel, one that his father had used. It was kept as a sort of memento for his father's job. Today it might be used again.
Team Rocket watched in disbelief as Giovanni's car pulled up near the edge of the forest.
"What's he doing here?" whispered an astounded James. Jessie stared dumbly as their boss exited his car. He walked strait toward them, carrying a violin case. Strangely, he didn't seem enraged or on the verge of killing something. He looked the nervous trio over with a calm, collected eyes.
"Where are they?"
"W-who?" stuttered Meowth.
"The twerps you dumb-ass. Where are they?" James pointed a shaky finger to the clearing not too far into the woods.
"What are you going to do?" Jessie muttered.
"I'm gonna play a tune on my violin." Giovanni started into the trees. Curious and nervous, Team Rocket followed him.
Giovanni walked right into the clearing. There stood Ash, Misty, Brock, and that miserable yellow rodent. They stared at him with odd, mystified faces, then suddenly realized who he was. They readied their Pokeballs for battle, but stopped when Giovanni opened up his violin case. They stared at the Tommy-gun he clutched in his hands.
"Say hello to my little friend!" Giovanni shouted as he opened fire. The forms of his enemies slumped to the ground. The crazed gunman blew the smoke form the barrel, and put it back into the case. He turned around to his dumbstruck henchmen, who stared in horror at what he had done.
"That was it? You couldn't do that? What the Hell is wrong with you?" Team Rocket wrapped their arms around each other and began to cry hysterically. Giovanni rolled his eyes.
"Don't stand there like idiots, we gotta get rid of the stiffs. Come on, help me get 'em in my trunk." Fearful of their homicidal boss, the trio obeyed. They tried not to puke as they carried the bleeding corpses into the car. When their work was done, they turned to look at their employer.
"Now what?" squeaked Jessie.
"We're gonna make 'em a pair of cement shoes. Get in, we're going to the docks."
Down at the pier, Giovanni finished pushing the last body off of the dock. With its feet stuck in a cement filled bucket, it sank out of sight beneath the waves. His henchman stood not too far away, weeping silently to themselves.
"Man up, would you?" he said in disgust, "Or I'll toss you in too." Team Rocket immediately shut up. "Now, I'd better start seeing some changes in your behavior. No more of this incompetence crap or I swear to God I'm going to grind the three of you into pepperoni. Got it? Good." The terrified trio nodded as they followed their boss back to the car.