Author's Note: This story takes place right after Pallet Party picnic, where Pidgeotto evolves and leaves Ash behind. This is an AU, and for the purposes of this story, the first movie has not occurred yet regardless of its order in the episode line up, although Mewtwo has been cloned.

On Ash's memory in chapter three, well, Mew is a Psychic-Type...

Ash Ketchum stared at his father incredulously. He was a member of Team Rocket?

"Let me explain," Giovanni said, and then as he began to give a rather one-sided account of the story to Ash, Ash's father thought back to his own memories of the event.

He had just come back from yet another trip making an appearance as Pokémon League Champion. In a Pokéball at his side, Ashura Ketchum had a Houndour puppy he'd picked up that he just couldn't wait to give to his son. Man, he wanted to see the look on his son's face! Little Ash would finally have a Flamekist of his own!

When he came in the house, ready to embrace his son and kiss his wife, he was startled to see his brother sitting on the couch.

"Hello, Shura," the man greeted with barely veiled contempt. 'Shura' had been a childhood nickname of Ashura's. He didn't mind it when his friends used it, but whenever he heard his brother use it, his blood boiled.

"Giovanni," he returned, the gears in his mind working. What was he here for? What did he want?

Delia looked both grateful and regretful at her husband's appearance. "I'm going back to the bedroom to work on some things," she said as she got up and hurried out of the room. She had only met Giovanni once, and she had immediately disliked him. When coupled with all of the things her husband told her about him, Delia's feelings towards him were just short of hatred.

Giovanni smiled a thin smile, malice gleaming in his eyes. "You have a lovely wife and a handsome young son."

Ashura clenched his fists. He wanted to punch that look right off his brother's face. "What do you want?"

"Perhaps you've heard of an organization called Team Rocket?"

The younger Ketchum snorted. "Who hasn't? It's a criminal organization made up of thieves that steal trainers' Pokémon."

"Yes," nodded Giovanni in complete acceptance of the fact. He paused, then said, "Remember our younger days?"

Ashura did remember, though he didn't quite understand why Giovanni used "our." The two brothers, three years apart, had been nothing alike, sharing very few experiences together.

Ashura had been good friends with Mark Oak and Stormy Waterflower, both well-behaved kids just like him.

Giovanni, on the other hand,...

He was less than the ideal son, and Ashura, the youngest, was most definitely the favorite of their parents. At eight years of age, Giovanni had joined a gang, and he was as bad a kid as could be found anywhere, cursing, smoking, drinking, thieving—a regular scoundrel. The gang he was a member of was called Gang Rocket and even had a motto, which Giovanni had pounded into Ashura's head:

Gang Rocket blasts all away,
And whoever tries to stop us surely will pay;
We'll fight and bite and steal all they've got,
And we'll make sure that we never get caught.

Whenever they were about to get caught doing something they shouldn't, their codeword "blast" was used, and they all shot off like rockets in different directions.

Ashura could remember many a time Gang Rocket had beat him up at Giovanni's instigation. Giovanni just couldn't stand all of the attention Ashura "Goody Two-Shoes" Ketchum always got from their parents, and he had always wanted to gain some control over his younger brother. Ashura, however, had always been too headstrong to do what Giovanni said.

Ashura shook his head to clear it, finally answering, "Yeah, I do."

"I was a member of Gang Rocket," Giovanni said thoughtfully. "A primitive group, but it provided me with a necessary introduction to several things. Now, I am at the head of a criminal organization whose name will eventually be known throughout the entire world."

"Team Rocket," Ashura breathed. His brother was the head of Team Rocket?

Ashura Ketchum had always known that his brother was the criminal type, but for him to have organized such a powerful organization...Gang Rocket, Team Rocket...Why hadn't Ashura realized the connection sooner? Reluctantly, he answered that question to himself: he hadn't wanted to realize it.

"Are you here to gloat?" Ashura spat.

The criminal mastermind shook his head slowly, looking somewhat amused at his brother's irritation. "Patience, my brother. You always were lacking in that area, I know, but you must try to exercise it..." Giovanni's eyes glittered. "With your impatience, I'm surprised you made it to become Pokémon League Champion." Something in his gaze seemed to shift. "I heard the starter Pokémon you got from Professor Oak was a Charmander." He gave a malicious grin. "I thought that was a rather interesting choice...You were trying to do better than your brother, weren't you?"

Ashura met Giovanni's gaze, though he wanted nothing more than to avert his eyes...It was true.

Giovanni had started his Pokémon journey at the age of ten with a Charmander. Ashura had later heard rumors that right after Giovanni left Pallet Town he had brutally trained his Charmander into a Charizard, and he didn't doubt that it was true.

When Ashura had started his Pokémon journey, he had chosen a Charmander, determined to train the Fire-Type right, unlike his brother, who he knew had done it wrong.

"Yes, you wanted to prove yourself better than me. When I started my journey, I was determined to prove myself as well. In my travels, I always discovered that I wanted the Pokémon that other people had. Few of the ones I myself could find—and I looked high and low—were powerful enough for me. One day, I saw a trainer who was riding a Dragonite land on the ground in front of me, and I knew right then and there that his Dragonite was mine. I challenged him to a six-on-six Pokémon battle, discovering that the rest of his Pokémon were pathetically weak, for he had spent all of his time training his Dragonite. He saved the Dragon-Type for last, and I used my Gengar's Hypnosis attack to put both the Dragonite and his trainer to sleep. I took the Dragonite and made my escape.

"After that, I began stealing more and more rare Pokémon from people, and at age twelve I went beyond stealing Pokémon, instead having them steal money from the bank in Goldenrod." Giovanni saw the look of surprise in his brother's eyes. "Yes, the Great Pokémon Bank Heist was the result of your brother's scheming." He smiled sinisterly. "Some members of my old gang, nearly as ambitious as me, caught up with me, and we finally started Team Rocket, with me at the head. It wasn't long before Team Rocket became a major organization, taking people's money and Pokémon at will...You would be surprised at all the rare and powerful Pokémon I've accumulated over the years."

"What do you want, Giovanni?" Ashura asked softly. His stomach churned. He had a bad feeling about this...

"You do not know?" Giovanni laughed. Then he became serious, his eyes narrowing. "I want you to come and work for Team Rocket. You are the Pokémon League Champion, a Pokémon prodigy—yes, I am willing to admit it—, and you will be a definite asset."

Ashura shook his head, his eyes flashing. "I'll never join you."

Giovanni seemed to be expecting this. "I thought you'd say such. But never say "never," my dear brother. I'm afraid you'll find that to be a mistake."

"Out, Giovanni," Ashura said, starting to raise his voice. He pointed to the door. "Get out!"

"Don't be so hasty, and keep your voice down," his brother said to him. "Wouldn't want the child to hear."

This time Ashura narrowed his eyes.

"Our parents were...lovely people, weren't they?" Giovanni didn't seem to be expecting an answer. "Too lovely for my taste. In fact, they were so worthless and so unsupportive of me that I decided I had to return the favor..." With a sinister look in his eyes, Giovanni stared at his brother. His eyes seemed to be inviting Ashura to look into Giovanni's soul and learn all of his secrets.

It was in that instant that he knew.

You!" Ashura hissed. "You killed our parents!"

"Very good, my dear brother. That was an awfully fast revelation. I expected it to take you much longer than that." He gave a sardonic smile. "...You know, I never could stand worthless people."

Out!" roared Ashura Ketchum.

The head of Team Rocket nodded, saying simply, "You're going to regret this." Then he walked out.

All of this flashed through Ashura's head in an instant. He tuned back in to Giovanni's story.

"Your father never liked submitting to my control. He hated it ever since we were younger. He refused, and I never allow people to refuse me. You do understand that, do you not, Ash Ketchum?"

Ash stared at him. "What do you want from me?"

Ashura winced, sensing a flicker of himself in his son.

"All in good time," the head of Team Rocket said.