It took a bit longer than I expected, but I am back with chapter three! We are going to begin exploring Giovanni's childhood as we see how he turned from a young kid to the genius crime boss he has become. Hope you enjoy!

More Than It Seems Chapter 3

40 years before the events of Red/Blue/Yellow/Leafgreen/Firered

Gio glanced back at his friend, Nate, as the two followed their new gangmates. For kids like them, it was rough living in a place like Saffron City. No parents, no home, no allegiances except to whoever they were foolish enough to care about. And most importantly, no food. That was life for Gio. That was life for many in Kanto. It was a tough place, especially for ten-year-old kids.

"Soon you will be on your knees thanking us when we toss you some scraps." One of the older boys, John, said with a sneer. He and the other two older boys were a gang, and they had forced Gio and Nate to beg to join in. Gio and his best friend had not had much choice, as they would have likely starved without them.

"How are we going to get these scraps?" Nate asked, rolling his eyes. He had always been the braver of the two of them.

"Don't question us!" snarled Trent, the biggest of the boys. He punched Nate in the shoulder, who grimaced and clutched his arm in pain.

"It's alright, it's a good question." Randle, the third of the older boys, said. He was the leader, and by far the smartest of them. To Nate he asked, "What do you think we should do? Do you have a big plan you haven't bothered to tell the rest of us yet?"

"No." Nate replied.

"Then why do you expect us to have something? Show some initiative! Don't expect the world to just hand you stuff. You gotta learn that you need to think for yourself, be brave, take a chance, do something. Or else you aren't gonna do nothin', and you aren't gonna get anywhere in life. Lucky for you, I do happen to have a plan. And it isn't anything life threatening, like robbing one of the rich folks on main street heading to the bank. They got guards, and the police are everywhere in those parts. Not worth it. Nope, this is quiet, risk free, and plenty prosperous."

"Really?" Nate asked, raising an eyebrow. "What is it we are doing then?"

"Just robbing a house, is all." Randle said. "Just wait until they aren't home, then we go in and take what we can. Then, in a week or two, we hit another place, except completely different part of Saffron. See? Nice and safe, as long as we do it smart."

"So, we are just going to steal from people?" Nate challenged. "That's your great answer to this?"

"Well if someone has to be broke and hungry…." Randle shrugged. "Better them than us."

Nate didn't have an answer to that. He glanced at Gio, and Gio wondered what it could mean. He didn't want Gio to back him up, did he? He wasn't about to convince anyone of anything.

"So when's it going down?" Trent asked, crossing his arms menacingly.

"I have the perfect place." Randle replied. "Tonight, around nine o' clock. You'll see." He smiled.

Later that night, the five boys crouched behind a bush across the street from a house. The family, two parents and a young girl who looked about five years old or so, had left over an hour ago. But they had yet to move on the house, because Randle had said that they needed to make sure the coast was clear.

Gio and Nate had been forced to go along with the older boys' plan. After all, how could they not? If they didn't do what they were told, they would be stabbed, or worse. It wasn't worth standing up to them, not when all it got you was getting hurt.

Gio had always been a timid boy. Nate stood up for him, like an older brother, even though they weren't related. But Gio couldn't stand violence. He couldn't bring himself to fight back. He couldn't be like Nate, who had dreams, who wasn't content with his life. He was just glad Nate let him drag along behind him. Gio just didn't have the confidence to stand up for himself. He was trash, like so much of Saffron, and deep down he knew it went all the way to his core. Nate was a diamond in the rough, a boy that, if he survived the starvation on the streets, could be something great someday. But Giovanni, he was just another lost soul in a world of war and broken homes. He would never rise above the crowd, become someone worth caring about. Someone important. Deep down, he knew it, and that hung a weight over his neck, casting his gaze to the ground. Where it belonged.

But at least Nate believed in him.

"Just have some confidence!" he would always say. "put some faith in your own strength, your own abilities. You might just surprise yourself." Little did Nate know that by praising Gio, it was himself that he was proving to be greater than he seemed.

"This isn't going to end well." Nate whispered to Gio at the present, gazing at the empty house. "Something is going to go wrong. I can feel it."

"So?" Gio whispered back. "Even if you're right, so what? We are still going in there no matter what. We don't have a choice."

"You're a smart kid, Giovanni." Nate said. He was always calling Gio by his full name. He thought it sounded cooler, although Gio didn't want to bother to change what he went by. "With your brain, you can go places. You got a future ahead of you, just wait and see."

"I'm not going anywhere." Gio answered back. "You know that." He wasn't going to leave this life. He wasn't strong enough. He had a year or two at most before the Saffron streets claimed him, like so many others. It wasn't an issue of if, but of when.

"We'll see."

"Hush!" John spat at them.

"I think it's time we moved in." Randle whispered to the others. "Let's go."

Gio begrudgingly followed the others as they snuck across the street. When they reached the front door, Trent pulled out a brick from the bag he was carrying, and used it to smash in the window next to the door. They all froze a moment, silent, listening for any sort of alarm, or if anyone nearby had noticed. The seconds drew by slowly, every heartbeat a lifetime. Finally, Randle let out the breath he had been holding, and the others followed suit.

He turned to Gio. "Alright, small fry. You're up."

Gio froze in confusion. "M-me?" he asked, paling.

"Yeah, you. You go through the window, open the door."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the smallest. Duh."

Gio didn't like it, but he didn't really have a choice. He walked to the window, and swept away some of the broken glass. Only part of the window had broken, and Randle was right in that Gio was the only one that would fit through. Gio cautiously pulled himself up over the windowsill, and wiggled his way inside the pitch-black house. He gently dropped down headfirst, using his hands to gradually crawl himself inside. As he was climbing inside, however, he sliced his palm on a shard of glass lying on the carpet. He hissed out a breath of air from the pain, as the blood dripped from his hand unseen in the darkness.

"You in?" Randle whispered through the window. "Do you see anything? Open the door!"

Gio scrambled to his feet, feeling the wall to try to find the door. "It's too dark in here." He replied to the older boy. "I'm going to try to find the light switch." He felt around, finding nothing on the bare wall.

"What's taking so long?" John whispered through. He sounded annoyed. Gio knew that he would probably take a few punches in the gut later for this. "Hurry up, you damn rat!"

"I'm trying!" Gio whispered back frantically. "I can't find it!"

"I swear, if you don't-" He cut off his sentence when the light came on, as Gio finally found the light switch.

"Good, now open the door." Randle ordered.

Gio reached for the door, but right as he grabbed it an ear-piercing siren went off. He froze, head turning to the window. Outside was a cop car, rolling up onto the street outside of the house he was in. He heard shouts from outside.

"It's the cops! Let's get out of here!" Trent shouted.

"Right behind you!" Randle shouted back.

"Leave their sorry asses behind!" John said with a snarl.

Gio was woken to action when Nate shouted his name. "Giovanni! Come on! Let's go!"

He unlocked the door frantically, swinging it open. Nate was on the other side, ushering him out. The other three had disappeared already.

Then a loud shot filled the street, followed by two more. Gio glanced down at Nate's chest, and was shocked to see three bullet holes poking out. Right before his eyes, blood started seeping out, turning Nate's green shirt a dark shade of brown that kept spreading as it stained more and more.

Nate looked completely shocked, and Gio had no doubt that his face mirrored his friend's. Nate's mouth moved, silently miming words that Gio couldn't understand. Then Nate fell forward, dead. Gio fell too, holding onto his friend's body, unable to believe what had just happened.

What awaits Giovanni next? His friend dead, his life just flipped on its head…. Everything has changed for him. We will see in Chapter five! But next, we will go back to young protagonist Wren, a good 49 years after the events of this chapter. See you then!