(I'm sorry if Giovanni is a little OOC. I wanted to show how much he loves Silver. He'll be better in his next appearance, I promise.And for the record, this is Manga!Giovanni. The TR we know doesn't play a role in this so far. So, what do you think? I'm trying to get to the action, but it'll have to wait until next chapter. Sorry. But that'll be up tomorrow, so just wait! I don't own, Nintendo does and I'm just a teenage geek writing fics. Okay?)
I accepted the Boulder Badge, and Roger smiled coldly at me. I blinked in surprise, and took off quickly as I could.
Anna met up with me, a strange person by her side. He looked like a trainer, but he had no regulated crewcut and backwards cap. His eyes glittered with warmth as he looked at me.
"Hello, Olivia. My name is Red." I nodded. "Do I know you?" He shook his head. "You will soon. Come with us, please." I followed him quickly out to the grounds before Mount Moon. Why?
Good question. But I thought I could trust them. Don't ask me how; I had a feeling.
"Come on, guys. Let's go..." He muttered impatiently. "Dammit Ruby! We are NOT catching a goddamn Clefairy!" I heard a slightly girlish male voice.
"But I waaaannnnaaa..." The angry female voice screamed in a high-pitched tone. "For fuck's sake—Oh, hi Red." Red was laughing softly.
"Hello, Sapphire." The auburn-haired girl looked at me with an expression of amusement. "Hello, Mad Johto Girl." I nodded. "Hi, Sapphire." She grinned.
"Ronono! Go get Ruby!" She called out an Aggron, who stomped over to Ruby, and picked him up, tossing him down at Sapphire's feet. "Love you too, bitch." He grumbled. Sapphire kicked him in annoyance.
The boy looked up at me, white hat falling off of black hair. "Hello, I'm Ruby. You're that crazy Johto girl." I rolled my eyes.
A group of trainers tromped through the bushes. "We have to keep moving. It's not safe staying here." A woman with red hair and glasses said softly. I gaped. "You really were Lorelei." She nodded.
We rushed off into the darkness of the Mountain. "Pika! Flash!" Red called. He lit up the area, and we sat down by a stalactite, and waited.
"Yeah, nice welcome." A boy with forked golden hair muttered. "Ah, Emerald!" Red said happily. "Yup." The boy said proudly. A Sceptile by his side preened his pine-tree tail.
"Let's get to the base. The others can find us there." Anna said. I was confused as hell, but followed anyway. Red sighed. "I always forget which one's the secret entrance button." The Pikachu by his side rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Ruby kicked at a rock, and a door slid open. "I guess this one." A meeting room loomed before me. I blinked. "Wow." Grimwald poked a computer, and then hid in my hair when it beeped at him.
"Dammit, thanks a lot! Fuckin' ditched us, man! How fuckin' rude! Fuckin' hell... fuck, I guess." I giggled, as a boy who looked a bit like Red bounced in, an embarrassed boy with red hair by his side.
"...This is Gold. He's hyper. That's Silver. He's emo. And I'm Crystal. It's nice to meet you." A girl with blue-black hair in forked pigtails said to me. I nodded in bemusement.
Red sighed. "Where are the others?" Crystal glared at him. "You really expect about thirty-two Gym Leaders and 14 Elite Four, along with three Champions to make it here, along with our group?" Red inched back from Crystal, wisely saying nothing.
"Okay, okay. I take five minutes bringing your girlfriend here, and you bitch and moan about it. Nice, Red." A boy who looked a bit like a younger Professor Oak said in annoyance. A girl with blonde hair tucked under a hat waved. The brunette female raised an eyebrow at me.
"Hi! I'm Yellow! This is Green, and the girl's Blue!" The girl with the blonde hair said. I nodded. "...Girlfriend, Red?" I asked. He blushed. "Shut up."
"Chatlord! Stop echoing off the walls, you'll give us away!" A boy with crazily styled blonde hair rushed in. A boy with a strange cap, and a girl with a short pink skirt walked in after him. "Fuck you, raawrk! Chatot! Fuck yuh-hooo! Chatot!" Everyone was silent. Then the blonde said,
"I didn't teach him that."
"...Hello. I'm Lady Berlitz. The blonde imbecile is Pearl, and the weirdo is Diamond. And the stupid bird is Chatlord." The girl said, exasperated. I stared at all these people.
"And there's more, but let's get started. We're the Resistance Order." Red told me.
"And we need your help. Oak gave you a Pokedex, which means he knew you'd be on our side. You're a product of Johto Madness, and—"
Blue checked her phone. "Oh, and the others can't make it. They were getting tailed, and said they'd meet up with you later." Red frowned.
"Dammit. Anyways, as I was saying, you've managed to win the first gym, and give us all some hope. We need your help, simple as that. We can't win the League, since we're supposed to have been killed by the New Order League ages ago." I nodded.
"So, I suppose I get a weird color name like you guys, right?" He grumbled. "Actually, yes, I got named Red by my parents. But I suppose a codename will help, especially if you're going to be in the League." I brightened up.
"And you'll need traveling companions. Gold and Silver will go with you, since they're the ones who are better off going FAR away from mechanical equipment."
"Go fuck yourself and die." Silver muttered. Gold giggled, until he realized he was being insulted, and he yelped, "HEY!"
Red ignored them. "Ruby and Sapphire will meet up with you whenever they can, which is most of the time, because Sapphire likes to travel, and we'll all try to do the same." I nodded impatiently.
"Do I get a codename now?" I rushed. Everyone sighed. "Do you really need one? This isn't a game—" I had had it. I slammed my hands down on the table, and snarled at Red.
"You're the same age as me, so shut the fuck up. Don't you think I know that? We've obviously all got motherfucking stakes in whatever stupid fucking war you think you've got planned." Everyone continued to stare at me. Silently, Diamond, Roo, and Beh munched on their potato chips.
Silently.
"I can go the hell away from here, and live my own life. It's that easy; I've got skills and age on my side, and maybe I can get a job as a Gym Leader or whatever. I don't need you. Why I am doing this? Because I am so sick of people telling me how I can and can't live my fucking life. That includes you, Red." I took a breath.
"So don't tell me this isn't a goddamn game; because it is. We're all fucking with each other in the hopes that the other side will fuck up, and we'll win. Goddamnit, I know that! It's a game, but it's a dangerous goddamn game, and I don't think you know that, you arrogant son of a whoring bitch!" I finished, breathing heavily.
Red stared at me for a long, long minute. Then he sighed. "You really have a temper, you do know that, correct?" I screamed, "I JUST FUCKING EXPLODED ON YOU, AND YOU DON'T CARE?" He raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"No, not really. You showed quite a bit of feral intelligence there; I'm impressed, actually. Fine, take your stupid codename. How about..." He paused. "Livid."
I stared. "What?" Gold asked. Red nodded. "Temper, temper, remember. And it sounds like Olivia, doesn't it?" I stopped.
Livid.
"It has a nice ring to it." I said softly. He nodded. "Good. Now, we should try to get you four throughout Mt. Moon, and be careful; Rockets are in abundance here, and they're more likely to shoot first and ask questions later. Got it?" We all nodded.
Gold took out a pokeball. "Togetaro can handle it!" I stared at the little... egg... thing... that appeared. "Oy, anyone up for a game of dice? Poker's good, too—who's got cash?" Silver glared at Gold.
"We talked about this! Togetaro is a bad influence on Sneasel and Gyarados!" Gold became sarcastic, and mocked in a high-pitched whine, "Toge-fuking-taro is a bad influence on Sneasel and fucking Gyarados!"
"HEY!" I said indignantly. "I'm the only one allowed to mock people in a whiny and sarcastic tone, damn you!" As we engaged in a three-way argument, Togetaro played craps with Pika and Saur.
Togetaro won.
"Um, don't we have to go now, or something?" Silver finally ventured. Red rolled his eyes, and muttered something under his breath involving retarded addict enablers and emo bastard boyfriends, but nodded.
"Yes. So move." He handed me a cell phone. "This is the only un-bugged line we can trust beside Oak's; call us only on this. Now scoot, Livid." He finally found the secret button door, and watched us out.
"They might die, Red." Yellow said softly. Red sighed, and nodded. "I'm completely aware. But I think they'll be okay." We left Anna's hovercycle at the base of the mountain, as it was too tough to drag it along.
"Damn, girl, you fucked with Red pretty bad back there!" Gold crowed. "And what's with this Johto Madness deal? We're both from Johto, and we're not... okay, we're not violent. Insane, possibly." He asked me. I shrugged.
"Well, it's like this. Kanto is the 'Purest' region, being the first one discovered and claimed as a Region. Johto should be "Pure", but after almost seven years of being trapped in a strange force, most of Johto—" Silver nodded.
"Right, they said it was insane. I remember that, and I remember the quarantine; but the Madness?" I continued. "A more mutated version of the Viridian power; I can hear Pokemon's minds and heal them and such, but I got a violent side with the gifts." Gold nodded, and tapped his billiard stick on his shoulder.
"Right. Like Yellow. Only crazy." I rolled my eyes. "Yes. Anyways, continuing with the Region's "Purity Rankings", Hoenn is classified as a wild card, and lacking in features that Johto and Kanto have. Kind of moderate in decent trainers; there's the Frontier Brains, and the Rebels, I suppose, along with Steven Stone and Wallace, but nothing major in the League's eyes. And you know how Coordinating went." They all nodded.
Most male Coordinators were either in hiding with the Rebels, or dead. They'd outlawed males in Coordinating ages ago; said it produced "a homosexual evil" of some sort.
There were a few survivors, who were presumed dead or with the Rebels; Drew Rosalind, Harley Davidson, Kenny something-or-other, and Robert Dashirou. And Ruby Birch, but he was obviously alive.
"Hey, that reminds me; do you have Coordinators in your ranks?" I asked. Gold nodded.
"Yup, I think there's quite a few, male and female. And I think the Hoenn Champ, Robert, along with two boys, Drew something, and uh... Harley, yeah, him, are working in a base in Hoenn. That's all I know, since Kanto doesn't have many problems with male Coordinators." I nodded. "And Sinnoh?" Silver asked. I finished.
"They're mostly a budding Region. No one knows much about them, but at first glance, they seem eager to become much like Kanto; meaning a hotbed of fascism or what have you." The boys both nodded, taking in all that information.
"So, shall we go?" Anna said, looking up at the caves. Silver checked a map. "Looks like we're supposed to go through that one, come out that way, and go through that. Then we'll be in Cerulean." I rolled my eyes.
"So where's that one?" He faltered. "...The one with the rocks?" I rolled my eyes, and went forward. "Wait! Fossil Cave! We have to go into it, and it's right above us!" Silver rushed. I looked up.
"Okay... do either of you have a Flying Pokemon?" Anna called out Subakami. Silver and Gold looked at each other, and fumbled for a pokeball. "Murkrow!" An abnormally large Murkrow phased out of his pokeball. He flapped his wings, and bobbed his head as I asked, "Uh, can that carry you two?" Silver shrugged.
"One at a time, I suppose." Silver took Murkrow first, and he did manage to get up there, but I didn't imagine Murkrow was all that thrilled about it. To save poor Murkrow, Gold went up with us on Subakami, who did a rolling dive just to freak us all out.
We got up there, and I fingered the fossils trenched in the cave gently, not wanting to destroy some Kabuto or whatever.
"Silver! My boy, long time no see!" I screeched. "Holy CRAP!" Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket, had just hugged Silver. "Hi, dad." I blinked.
"Whoa, wait, uh, back up. Your dear old dad is the leader of Team Rocket?" Giovanni nodded slowly, unsure of what to make of me.
"I IDOLIZE you, good sir, simply IDOLIZE you. Perhaps we should have a discussion sometime. I deal in evil, after all." Grimwald jumped down from his pokeball, and extended a stubby paw. Giovanni simply continued to stare.
"Um. Yes, certainly, someday soon." He was controlling a fit of laughter, but Grimwald seemed not to notice. I bit my lip in an attempt not to laugh. "Dad? You're here for Red, right?" I blinked.
"Okay, why? I thought Team Rocket was evil..." That, most of the world had agreed on. Giovanni shrugged. "The New Order League wants me dead. Red and I are reaching a common goal; to bring them down." He said this with little emotion, as if he was discussing the weather. I nodded. Giovanni, above all else, was a powerful ally.
He looked down at my Eevee. "How rare. A shining Pokemon." I blinked. "A what?" Silver and Gold looked at each other. "So, you really didn't know." Silver said. I was getting frustrated. "Know WHAT, goddamnit?"
Giovanni cut through, his voice smooth. "You see, a premature Pokemon hasn't become 'normalized' in the Egg yet, and..." Gold burst in; being the Hatcher, he was the expert on these things.
"Yeah, they turn Shining, 'cause of some old custom of Pokemon being pets or whatever, and they were all shiny, then they weren't. Yeah, basically, it's why Jack's a weird color, and why he is so skinny and small; he's a preemie, making him a shiny too." I nodded.
I'd vaguely heard of shinies before; nowadays, they were put down, due to their 'freakishness' and 'corruption of Pure Pokemon'. But I didn't realize Jack was shiny, having never seen a Shining Eevee for myself.
I sighed, and wondered why color was such a big deal for some people. Jack nodded, and it occurred to me that Pokemon could probably hear and see my thoughts as well.
Which might be interesting, but also could be a pain in the ass, seeing as I was an open book.
Getting back to reality, I asked Giovanni where the hell Cerulean City was. He laughed, pointed to a darker brown cavern just past the one we were in, and hugged Silver one last time before leaving.
"...He really loves you, doesn't he?" I asked Silver softly. He nodded. "Yeah, I'm the only one allowed to see that side of him, I suppose. Why, doesn't your dad act like that around you?" I blinked up at him, and raised an eyebrow.
"...He's dead." I said shortly. Gold barged into our conversation, and yelled, "Whoa! How'd that happen?" I snorted.
"Committed suicide after he found out my mom was pregnant with a girl. Wanted a boy, so he'd become League Champion." Gold frowned.
"...Did they ever find the body?" I shook my head. "No, no, just a note... why?" Gold shook his head. "Just wondering..."
The truth was, he wasn't as dead as everyone thought. No, he was very much alive.
And responsible for all this mess, in fact.