Disclaimer Stuff: I don't own Pokemon, blah blah blah… You all know the rest.
Born to Rule the World
"I have decided that my son needs some extra training with regards to his handling of Pokémon. You shall instruct him in battle techniques, teach him each Pokemon's power and behaviour. In short, you shall bring him up to a standard which someone of his eventual position should be."
I cringed inwardly at this. My parents, or rather my mother, had sent me to the Pokémon Technical Institute to get me into the Pokémon League without having to send me out on a badge-collecting journey. I would have far rather done that than be stuck at that stupid school, but she ignored both my protests and those of my father. It would be too risky to let me go, was the excuse. I was never the world's best trainer to start with but being at the Tech didn't help that. I started off well enough, but during my first year boredom finally won through, and I failed. So, I had to repeat the year. When my parents read my end of year report, they were disappointed to see that I had failed the class again, doing even worse than I had the first time.
Actually, disappointed was the wrong word. My mother was furious, far angrier than I could ever remember her being towards me. My father had to calm her down before the matter could be discussed further, the result of which was the decision that I was to be given tuition during the holidays until I improved drastically. That meant that the holiday by the sea I had been looking forward to was out of the question. I let out a small sigh and shuffled slightly. Mother had made me stand beside her, as she made the two people in front of her stand too. I looked at them from under a thick forelock of hair that insisted on flopping in front of my eyes. Two members of the elite team, a man and a woman. Mother meant business, though that didn't surprise me. She continued speaking.
"You will start tomorrow morning. You can use the old training gym. Any questions?"
"No ma'am," they replied in unison. Stupid thing for my mother to ask, I thought. You didn't question her, you did as she asked.
"You may go," she told them. They nodded and left the office. Mother turned to me.
"Those are two of my best agents. You are to do as they say. I will be asking them to update me regularly on your progress. Of course, I hope that there is going to be some progress from you. Do I make myself clear, Giovanni?"
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes Mother."
"One day you will take over as head of Team Rocket from me. When you do, you need to be able to take over whatever projects happen to be running at the time, and to do that you need to possess a lot of knowledge of Pokémon. And a qualification that gives you league status will also be very useful. I know that you are only thirteen, and these prospects seem distant and uninteresting to you but one day you will thank me for them."
"I'll never be any good. That's what all the other kids say to me," I said, forlornly. For the first time my mother seemed to realise that I was upset about my progress at school too, for she stood up and placed her hands on my shoulders.
"Well you'll just have to show them otherwise, won't you? If I thought that too I wouldn't be asking my best agents to teach you," she said. "You're an intelligent child and are perfectly capable of it." She smiled at me. Her words might have meant more if they hadn't been the opposite of what she had shouted at me the other day, in the midst of her tantrum. But her current mood was about as serene as she got, and I certainly wasn't looking to disturb that.
.
The next morning seemed to arrive too fast. Reluctantly, I dragged myself down to eat some breakfast, then made my way, with my mother, over to where the training gym was. The two agents were there already.
"How long are we to keep him for?" asked the man.
"Until lunchtime, Xan." replied my mother, then she left. I stood in silence, not really knowing what to say. Xan started things off.
"So, let's get the introductions done," he said. "I'm Xan, and this is Miyamoto."
"Just call me Miya," Miyamoto smiled at me.
"I'm Giovanni," I said, though they probably knew that already. "Are you two partners?" Miyamoto shook her head.
"No. My partner is Cal."
"Mine's Dahlia," said Xan. The names of their partners meant no more to me than theirs did. I eyed Xan warily. He was well over six feet tall and built like a tank. Though he wasn't old, his short hair was white, making his dark eyes piercing. Miyamoto on the other hand, was slender and about average height. Purple hair framed her eyes, which were a vivid blue-green. She flexed her fingers.
"Well, shall we start?" she said. Xan nodded.
"Okay Gio, let's see what Pokémon you have." I knew that he expected me to have several, but he was going to be disappointed. I took my only Pokeball out of my pocket and tossed it onto the floor. A second later, my Krabby stood in front of us, snapping its claws.
"That's all I have," I said. Both Xan and Miyamoto were surprised.
"Only one?" said Xan.
"Just because my mum runs Team Rocket doesn't mean I get loads of Pokémon given to me," I said defiantly. "Anyway, I wasn't given Krabby."
"You caught it?"
"Yes. Last year on holiday. But I wish I hadn't because I might have been given a better Pokémon for Christmas that year. Mum said that seeing as I had Krabby there was no need to give me another Pokémon because I could now get my own." I explained.
"Lesson number one. No Pokémon is useless," said Miyamoto, kneeling down by Krabby.
"This one is," I said. "All it can do is blow bubbles." As if to prove my point, Krabby happily blew a stream of bubbles towards me. Miyamoto took hold of one of its claws and looked at it, opening and shutting it, then did the same with the other. She seemed satisfied and stood up.
"Well there's nothing wrong with it, except it's a bit on the small side but it should grow the more you battle with it."
"I don't battle with it because it's weak," I said. A moment later I wished I hadn't opened my mouth because the next thing I knew was a pain in my left leg. I yelled and shook Krabby off. Xan shook his head in disbelief while Miyamoto picked Krabby up. I looked at her, amazed. If I tried to do that with Krabby, all I got was a pinch.
"Don't you know anything about Pokémon?" asked Xan. I was embarrassed.
"Of course I do! But if you were stuck in that stupid Pokémon Tech for most of the year you wouldn't care about doing well either!" I cried. Xan looked at Miyamoto then back at me.
"Right. Let's forget about school. You're not there now." I looked away, scowling.
"You're twelve, aren't you? If we…" said Miyamoto.
"Thirteen. My birthday was last week," I interrupted. Miyamoto nodded and continued.
"If we can get you up to a good standard, you'll be out of the Tech in only three years. But only if you are prepared to do some work. Are you going to do that, or do we have to tell your mother this is a waste of time?" That idea terrified me more than Xan did.
"Okay, I'll work at it," I muttered. Miyamoto handed Krabby back to me. Xan threw a pokeball onto the ground, and out came a Caterpie.
"This should be an easy match for you," he said. I laughed.
"Just a bit," I said.
.
Well, I did win one match. I knew that I really needed more Pokémon though. Maybe I could persuade my mother to give me some by asking Xan and Miyamoto to tell her I needed to borrow some Pokémon out of the collection to aid my tuition. I proposed this to them when we took a break.
"You tell her. She's your mother," said Miyamoto.
"Go out and catch some yourself," said Xan. "That's how everyone else does it." Again, I was stung by their crispness, but I suppose that's because I wasn't used to other people talking to me like that within the Team Rocket circle. Other people went out of their way to make sure they said the correct things to me, like I was some kind of royalty just because my mother was the boss. Xan and Miyamoto didn't seem to care about that, they were here to teach me and if they had to yell at me, then they were going to do it. Though it made me embarrassed when they did, I couldn't help but like them for it. They treated me like I was a normal person.
"How long have you been in Team Rocket for?" I asked them.
"Let's see…I joined when I was sixteen…so I've been here for about two years," said Miyamoto. Again she surprised me. I thought she was older than that.
"You must be good if you're in the elite team after two years," I said. She shrugged and smiled at me as if she didn't care.
"Miya could win the Pokémon League if she hadn't joined here," said Xan, giving her a friendly poke. Miyamoto rolled her eyes.
"Don't be silly Xan, I'm not that good. Anyway, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for people constantly telling me I could win the Pokémon League."
"Yeah, but your little act of rebellion got you stuck for life," said Xan.
"You're here too," she retorted, though not in an angry way.
"What about you, Xan?" I asked.
"I've been here a while now, since I was seventeen. Had nowhere else to go. It's not that bad here; I guess you don't notice it after nine years. Though a pay rise would be nice." He grinned at the last bit.
"Sorry I can't do anything about that," I smiled.
"Well one day you'll be able to, right?" said Xan. I shrugged.
"Yeah, one day," I said, unenthusiastically. Xan raised an eyebrow.
"Like that is it?" he said.
"Sometimes I wish I had been born into a different family," I told them.
"I think we all wish that at times," said Miyamoto.
"Make the most of your time before you become in charge," said Xan. "I mean, that could be years, couldn't it?"
"I hope it is," I said.
.
The holidays seemed to fly by. Mother had declined my request for some more Pokémon as I had expected, but Miyamoto and Xan let me battle with theirs. Though they both still beat me in battle more than I beat them, I was improving all the time, and so was Krabby. It even grew a little, and no longer tried to attack me. I suppose that was because I'd stopped insulting it. I was sorry when the training sessions came to an end, for I now enjoyed them. On the plus side, Mother was pleased with the way things had gone and was going to have Xan and Miyamoto tutor me further during the next holiday period.
I now counted Xan and Miya as two of my few friends. By the end of that first summer, I don't think we worked as hard as my mother would have liked, but it was enough. They spent more time talking about the missions they had been on. In some ways I envied them. Life as a member of Team Rocket wasn't easy, even at the top, but they got to travel around and see places. I didn't get to see much of the world, unless we were on holiday, for I was either in boarding school or living here at the Headquarters. Mother would never let me go on a mission either, certainly not a decent one in case something happened, and I was seriously hurt or didn't come back. That's why she wouldn't let me go on a Pokémon Journey. It wasn't because of her love as a mother that she protected me; it was because I was a valuable asset to her empire. Not for the first time I stood in front of my bedroom mirror and flexed the muscles in my arms. There was a faint bulging of a bicep which pleased me, though I had a long way to go to get anywhere near Xan. I pulled on a T-shirt and made a face at myself in the mirror. At least if I became the boss I could do as I pleased. I quite liked that idea.
.
I wished I didn't have to go back to school, but it was softened when it became apparent that I had no problem now with the Pokémon side of my schooling. Xan and Miya had kindly loaned me a couple of their Pokémon and my teachers were full of praise for me.
"You must have worked so hard during the holidays," gushed one.
"Not really," I lied. I was still bored stupid most of the time and had taken to spending most of my free time alone practicing on the simulators. The simulators at the Tech were pretty crap compared to some of the stuff back home. I don't know how my mother managed to get some of the equipment for it was unlike anything the majority of technology was at the moment. Only the top agents got to use it, though Xan told me that some of Mother's so-called thugs were trained on it too. I was surprised she didn't have Xan as one of the thugs; his physique would suggest he would be perfect for it, but as usual, she would have her reasons. I jabbed at the controls of the simulator and won again. I looked out of the window and in the distance saw a group of students huddled in a group. Someone was being 'helped' in their studies. I was glad it wasn't me now. They left me alone now I wasn't bottom of the class. Didn't mean I rushed out to help whoever was going through it now though. That would probably only make them turn on me again.
I have some friends here, but no one would go against the top pupils. Most of them were the children of business people, put through various Pokémon pre-schools before they were sent here in the hope that they would become great Pokémon Masters and give Mummy and Daddy something else to boast about. They were therefore absolutely clueless about anything but Pokémon and money, which only made their obnoxiousness more apparent. My family was rich too, from the money made through Team Rocket and some legitimate business interests of Mother's, but at least I knew that life didn't orbit a Pokeball. My father came from a reasonably well-off family, but my mother grew up in poverty. But not everyone here comes from a rich background. Some have parents who have saved money for them to come here since they were born. A couple of my friends were in that situation. They don't have much but are far nicer than the snobby teacher's pets. I hoped I'd be out of here in three years like Miya said. The bell went, and I turned away from the window. I had a lesson to get to on battle techniques. I smiled to myself and took out Krabby's Pokeball. Today we were specialising in water Pokémon.
.
After the Christmas holidays, I had only been back for a couple of weeks when I was summoned home again. My grandfather had died though I don't think I was too surprised because he had been quite ill when I had last seen him. Still, it upset me because I liked my grandfather. He'd been there all my life, for though he had given control of Team Rocket to my mother when I was little, he still ran the laboratories and lived in a little apartment that was attached to our house. Even when he was busy, he would always make time for me, which is more than my mother does. I could go down to the labs to see him whenever I wished, and he'd always have something like a chocolate bar to give me which I ate while he explained the experiment that he was running at the time to me.
I was a bit apprehensive at the funeral because I had never been to one before. I quickly began to wish I hadn't been next to my aunt. She didn't stop crying once all the way though, and that unsettled me more than the fact that my grandfather was dead. My mother, in complete contrast to my aunt, remained composed. Her eyes, for the most part, remained shadowed by her hat, so the only betrayal of emotion I saw was a bite of her lip. As usual, she was dressed perfectly, not a hair out of place. Black suit, black hat, long black coat, black scarf tucked neatly round her neck. Outside in the snow, with her long black hair falling down her back adding to the effect, she could have passed for a film star.
Afterwards we went to some place for food where I occupied myself by eating loads to fill the boredom caused by so many adults talking about grown up things. That was probably the first time I was properly aware of the kind of people my mother dealt with – mostly men who wore dark glasses even though it was the middle of winter. They created a general air of suspicion amongst each other that hung in the background. I watched Mother as she talked to them. A tight smile, very polite, very direct. I was glad when we could go back home.