Author's Note:
Past the halfway point with this chapter! I want to thank all who favorited my stories this past week; that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
StarWriterWG: Uh-oh. If you thought Giovanni was serpentine in the last chapter, I hesitate for you to read this one...
The plot thickens...
~TheFrogFromHell
Chapter 12
Giovanni couldn't stop his grin from spreading ear to ear when he saw the hands of his supporters. He felt particularly pleased when he saw Misty, who was looking at him murderously, raise her hand. That's it, he thought, I have the majority. And Misty Ketchum had provided him with the final vote he'd needed to win. This couldn't have gone any better!
Gary stood up from his seat in objection. "Just wait a second," he protested, addressing Giovanni. "If you're coming back and Ash is going to work at Indigo Plateau, exactly who do you think is gonna be willing to give up his or her position?"
"I will," came a voice from across the table. Some of the trainers gasped in shock when they realized it was Bruno's.
"What?" questioned Lorelei incredulously, "but you've been with us for years!"
"Yeah, but I know my record's never been that great, at least not compared to some. We need strong trainers in the Elite Four. I'm not saying I'm stepping down forever, but maybe a few months of training alone at Mount Silver would be good for me."
Giovanni was surprised by Bruno's offer. He hadn't expected anyone to willingly give up their position. This is truly my lucky day, Giovanni thought to himself smugly.
"Thank you for offering, Bruno, but that won't be necessary," said Sabrina decisively.
Giovanni saw a challenge in the Saffron gym leader's eyes, and his grin faded from his face.
"As head of the Kanto Gym Leaders Council, I deem it necessary to suspend this decision. This is a matter that should be settled by the National Gym Leaders Council."
There was an outcry in the room, mostly from the trainers who had voted to bring Giovanni back. Misty appeared to be relieved, which infuriated Giovanni.
His temper surged, and his face felt hot. This is ludicrous, he thought, Sabrina cannot hold the authority to take such measures!
"How dare you," the former Team Rocket leader bellowed, somewhere in the back of his mind realizing that he had lost control. He felt Ash's hand on his shoulder, undoubtedly in an attempt to calm Giovanni, but he ignored it. "Even after the majority rules that I should have— that I deserve— my gym leader post returned to me, you crush my hopes yet again. You, Sabrina, are indisputably biased, and you ought to be removed from your position immediately!"
"I did not say that your post would not be returned to you," Sabrina reasoned, "but I believe this matter would be best handled by the NGLC."
"That is ridiculous," Giovanni spat.
"I will not tolerate such disrespect," Sabrina replied heatedly. "This meeting is adjourned, and the decision postponed until further notice."
"Giovanni… we've done what we can. Let's go," said a voice softly. Giovanni turned to his left to see Ash, appearing concerned but firm.
Trying to manage his anger, Giovanni thought to himself, this is not over, but I'd rather leave some of my bridges unburned.
"Fine," the former Team Rocket leader agreed bitterly, and, with one last spiteful look at Sabrina, he added, "let's leave."
The group of trainers dispersed, whispering amongst themselves, and Giovanni and Ash were no exception. They exited the room, Giovanni wheeling himself out first, and then Ash behind him.
Once they were alone in the elevator, Ash said to Giovanni, "Look, I understand why you got upset in there, and hey, I would be, too, but you've got to try to… keep your cool a little more. You're not gonna help our case by yelling."
Giovanni felt another surge of rage pass through him at the notion of Ash giving him advice, but he somehow managed to keep his voice calm as he responded. "You're right, Ash. My apologies. It's just… a very sensitive topic for me. I realize I was out of line."
Ash nodded and smiled sympathetically. "It's okay," he assured Giovanni, "as I said, I would have been upset, too!"
"Thank you, my friend," Giovanni said, clapping Ash on his back. He hoped that the younger trainer believed he was sincere.
The two parted ways then, Ash leaving the building and Giovanni remaining behind, explaining that he was going to use the base floor's restroom before departing.
After using the toilet, Giovanni washed his hands in the sink and then splashed cold water on his face.
Still fuming about the outcome of the meeting, he peered at his reflection in the bathroom's mirror.
He thought he appeared very old, much older than his fifty-six years. Grey and white strands peppered his thinning, brown-black hair, which he still attempted to comb back into a polished style. Deep frown lines and bags underneath his dark, coal-colored eyes gave him a weathered, haggard appearance.
Disgusted with his own reflection, Giovanni splashed water over the dirty mirror, distorting the reflected image. He looked down at his withered, useless legs, which just lay there, motionless, as if they weren't parts of his body at all.
I am worthless, the man thought in revulsion. Viridian Gym was my last hope, and I have failed to secure that position. How pathetic. He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into the wall, hard. As his knuckles split and began to bleed, Giovanni realized, I am everything I despise: weak, dependent, and powerless.
Just when he felt ready to die, ready to give up on all his lifelong goals forever, something struck him.
It was an idea; just a tiny spark of an idea, but, like a beacon of light in thick fog, it gave him guidance and direction. Perhaps… it wasn't over for Giovanni after all.
Ever since the incident on Cinnabar Island nine years ago, Giovanni had been obsessed with finding Mewtwo yet again and capturing it, so that Giovanni could control it and, also, experiment on its DNA in preparation for possibly creating more clones (which, Giovanni planned, would be made differently than the original so that they would not be so adverse to obeying authority). Giovanni had thought all these years that he needed Mewtwo to build his army of super powerful pokemon; he could never become the strongest trainer in the world without Mewtwo. Mewtwo was the only one of its kind, and the only pokemon that could satisfy Giovanni's requirements.
But at this moment, Giovanni realized that he had been wrong. He didn't need Mewtwo to achieve his ends.
Why would I want to control the power, he thought, when I can be the power?
A triumphant grin crept onto Giovanni's face. From here on out, he thought, I refuse to be the weak one. I will regain all that I have lost. Those who have wronged me today will pay!
With his renewed resolve, Giovanni wheeled himself out of the bathroom to return to his office, where Bill's machine waited for him.
…
Mew was getting anxious; it was dark outside, and Cameron would soon be done with her training, so they needed to get back to Saffron Gym as soon as possible.
"Haunter," Mew said, becoming a little irritated with its friend, "we need to go back. Seriously."
Haunter stuck its tongue out at Mew. "Okay," it agreed, "but just one more, okay?"
Mew looked at it sternly. "Only if you promise that you actually mean "one more". And we need to make this quick."
"Okay, okay," Haunter said, "I promise."
For the last week, each day, while Cameron was training, Mew and Haunter had been going on their own adventures outside. At first, they had just explored the city, but they (mostly Haunter) had gotten bored with that. Mew had quickly discovered that Haunter's favorite activity was playing pranks on some of the trainers they saw. Although Mew felt a little guilty for messing with clueless people, it was a mischievous pokemon at heart, and it couldn't help but join in sometimes.
"Look! That guy, over there!" It seemed as if Haunter had identified their next victim. The ghost pokemon motioned to a tall, bald man in a suit on the sidewalk outside a coffee shop holding a briefcase in one hand and a giant paper cup of something that Mew assumed to be coffee in the other hand.
Haunter turned itself invisible, and Mew used Transform to shape shift into a pidgey, a common pokemon that no one would think twice about seeing in Saffron City. Then, the two approached the man.
Oddly, the man seemed to be having a conversation with someone, but Mew couldn't figure out whom. He wasn't holding a phone up to his ear, and he didn't seem to be addressing anyone around him. He must be talking to that strange device on his ear, Mew figured, noticing the small, electronic apparatus the man was wearing. Humans are so bizarre.
"What should we do?" Mew asked Haunter quietly, noting the weirdness of hearing its own words come out in pidgey-pokemon speech.
"I don't know yet," Haunter whispered back, "let's listen for a minute."
"So, my wife was like, 'honey, can you please pick up some new diapers for the baby? We're out and I'm waiting to change her!'" the man was saying into the device, "and I was like, 'yeah, sure, babe, but I gotta get my Morebucks latte first!"
He paused for a second as if listening for a reply and then burst out laughing.
"Yeah, dude! I know, she's super needy. But at least she's hot."
What a careless person, Mew thought distastefully.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" questioned Haunter.
"I think so," Mew replied.
"Yeah, well, I gotta get home. But you know that idea you pitched in the meeting today about Poke Cola for Kids? I totally think we could make major profit from that, man. We just gotta talk to the company about lowering the BPA content on the label, so all those hippie soccer moms don't have a cow."
"One, two, three…" Haunter counted.
"NOW!"
Suddenly, the invisible Haunter snatched the Morebucks latte out of the man's hand.
"What the—"
Haunter orbited around the man's head, darting out of the way as he tried to snatch the cup back.
"My coffee cup is just floating in thin air! No, seriously!" The man yelled into his device. A group of people across the street stopped to gawk at the strange scene occurring.
Mew decided to add another layer to the joke. Using its telekinesis, it levitated half a dozen cans of Poke Cola from inside the coffee shop, bringing them outside to circle around the man along with the cup that Haunter had stolen.
The man quivered in terror. "I knew BPA was bad," he cried, "but I never thought it could do this!"
Now, it was time for the grand finale. Mew shook the cans vigorously for a few seconds before gently pulling back the aluminum tabs at the tops. An onslaught of white-brown bubbles was projected at the man, and he screamed, threw his briefcase on the ground, and took off sprinting in the opposite direction. Mew and Haunter were both overcome by fits of giggles.
"Nice one!" Haunter complimented its friend.
"You weren't bad yourself," answered Mew. When the two pokemon had calmed down, Mew remembered they had to get home and said, "okay. That was our "one more". Time to get back."
Haunter sighed in reluctance but agreed.
Because it was late, and Mew wanted to get back to the gym as quickly as possible, it and Haunter decided to take a shortcut. It meant traveling on the outskirts of town, close to Route 8. It was very quiet there, with no people or other pokemon in sight, and Mew felt a little nervous when the last of the setting sun's rays disappeared from view.
"I don't like this," Mew said to Haunter.
"Scared?" Haunter teased, but Mew thought it heard a tiny bit of apprehension in Haunter's tone as well.
"No, just cautious. But we're close; we'll reach the gym soon." Mew said, trying to reassure itself as well as Haunter.
Suddenly, Mew heard a rustling in some trees behind them, and it knew it had to be more than just the breeze. Mew and Haunter whirled around.
"Show yourself!" called Haunter bravely.
Whatever this turns out to be, it's going to be alright, Mew thought, trying to calm itself down. Haunter and I are very strong. Together, we can handle any pokemon that challenges us.
But Mew wasn't prepared for what came next.
One by one, three pokemon crept out of the brush: first, a proud and sturdy looking rapidash; second, a sly and agile golduck; and third, a spirited and determined pikachu. Right away, Mew knew there was something different about these pokemon. For one thing, they had subtle, but foreign differences in their appearances that Mew had never seen before. Rapidash was abnormally large, with strange markings on its hooves; Golduck's eyes were slanted differently; and the patterns on Pikachu's ears differed from normal. The variations in their appearances coupled with the strange vibe Mew sensed from the pokemon made it seem as if they were from far, far away, where pokemon did not appear or behave in the same manner as the pokemon Mew knew.
"What do you want?" Haunter demanded, and, although Mew admired its friend's boldness, it wasn't sure that making demands of these odd pokemon was the right way to go about things.
The pokemon did not answer. Instead, they remained still, watching Mew and Haunter as if analyzing them. Mew noticed that the pikachu whispered something to Golduck very quietly, and, although Mew wasn't sure, it thought the mouse pokemon had said, "are you sure it's them", which didn't make any sense. Golduck nodded ever so slightly.
"Hey!" Haunter exclaimed. It had obviously noticed the exchange as well. "How about not keeping secrets here?"
Ugh, Mew thought, this isn't the time for Haunter to show off how tough it is…
"Haunter, I don't think we should— "
Abruptly, Mew was interrupted by an extremely forceful Hydro Pump attack directed at it and Haunter. Immediately, they moved away from each other as quickly as they could, and most of the destructive jet of water went right between them. Mew marveled at how powerful the attack was; whatever these pokemon were, they were unbelievably strong. Even at my level, I don't think I'm equipped to fight all three of them, Mew realized in horror.
Then, Mew saw an attack headed straight for Haunter, and it yelled instinctively, "Haunter, incoming! MOVE!"
The ghost narrowly missed the bulk of the attack, and it still got a little singed by Rapidash's impressive Fire Spin. Unfortunately, since Mew had been distracted protecting Haunter, it had failed to notice the Thunder attack coming right at it.
Suddenly, Mew's whole body was overcome by an intense electric shock. Mew's muscles ceased to contract, and it fell to the ground, seizing uncontrollably from the high voltage.
"Haunter, get back to the gym as fast as you can! Get help!" Mew barely had time to finish its sentence before it was struck by another unrelenting assault of electricity, and everything went black.
...
End note:
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