Once two boys ran out to lake

There are a lot of rumors about the leader of Team Rocket.

Some say he was born in the Viridian forest. This is not untrue. Some say he evolved a Bedrill there. Some claim it was his first Pokémon. The first part is true. Some say he has a twin brother. This is not talked about. Some say he travelled through time. Through space.

The whole truth is only known to a few individuals.

Before the leader of Team Rocket was a man named Giovanni, there was a boy named Sakaki Cleyera, who lived with his father in the small town of Twinleaf. He has a best friend and rival by the name of Palmer Pearl. They were both pretty sure they wanted to be both Pokémon professors and strong trainers. Strong trainers first, probably. After all, in a quest to be the best, they will surely meet and fight a lot of pokémon, and therefore have an idea of what they want to study by the time they are ready to become scientists.

Sakaki gets his first Pokémon a year before anyone expected him to, when they hear something crying out in the woods. lt's a pokémon, clearly. But not one they have heard before.

They run into the woods and follow the sound as far as they can until they realise they either need to climb the ledge, or walk in the tall grass without a pokémon. Sakaki looks at the ledge and swallows.

"Palmer, can you give me a boost?"

"Why can't you give me a boost? You're taller!"

"Exactly, which means I have better odds of actually reaching the ledge."

"I don't think it works like that."

"I don't think we have any time to argue."

"Fine." Sakaki puts down his potion, and Palmer puts him on his back , but it's not enough, and Sakaki climbs up from his shoulders. It's uncomfortable, and Palmer regrets agreeing, but when his friend is up, he hands him the potion. Sakaki has long arms, and that is an advantage with how much he's leaning down to grab the potion.

Sakaki runs ahead, and Palmer waits. It feels like forever, even though it probably has been less than seven minutes. Palmer has always been impatient.

Finally Sakaki returns, and instructs Palmer to hold his hands above his head, and stay still.

Something warm is lowered into them. Palmer slowly lowers his arms.

That's when Sakaki falls.

"Don't you dare" he growls, when Palmer starts to move.

"Keep Meowth safe."

Palmer looks at the Pokémon in his arms.

It's still injured, despite the potion.

"I'll be fine" Sakaki insists, wincing as he gets up. "Lets go"

He was not fine, and in fact has two broken ribs.

They take the Pokémon to his house, where they both get yelled at for endangering themselves. Sakaki gets grounded, and Palmer comes over multiple times a day to put ice on his ribs. But that doesn't mean his Dad won't let Sakaki nurse the Meowth back to health.

It tolerates Palmer, but it loves his best friend. And soon enough Sakaki is healed and allowed to go in tall grass. He even brings Palmer to Sandgem town.

That's where they find the trader. With Dratini eggs to trade. Apparently, he got the right nature at last, whatever that means. And he wants Nidoran for them.

"How do we even know you're telling the truth?"

"I am Sir Baudelaire, a breeder of renown. If this is not a Dratini, how will I keep my reputation? Reputation is everything in this business, young man!"

"I don't know enough about pokémon eggs to tell"

"Maybe you should go into the scientific study of Pokémon eggs."

"Maybe you should."

"Maybe we should find a Nidoran, and take the chance. "

"That's going to be expensive. Not only are they rare, but they also give a status effect."

"What one?"

"I don't remember."

"Well, I guess we can power through anything except poison."

"Freezing would be pretty inconvenient."

"I doubt that it's going to be an ice type, if we are going to find it in the grass, dummy."

"But it's a rare one, so maybe it is ice. Maybe it slides away from any trainer who comes to look for it."

"Hmm…" Sakaki is seriously considering it.

"It is a ground and poison type. I would know, as I am a nature expert!" Sir Baudelaire declares.

"But those are types, not natures."

"Indeed. I am an expert in many things, young man!"

"As you say Sir."

"I do indeed."

As Sir Baudelaire walks off, Sakaki asks an important question.

"Wait, did he want a boy or a girl?"

"Maybe he wants whatever we can find?"

"No. He's a nature breeder, which means this sort of thing is important to him."

"Maybe we should have more than one anyway. That way we can both get an egg."

"Oh. You want a dragon as your first Pokémon?" Sakaki asks, giving his Meowth a scratch as it rubs its face into his pants.

"If I can raise a dragon as my first Pokémon, I can raise anything."

"Ok. Bring it on. You have to help me pay for the pokéballs and antidotes."

"I bet you I can get the Money for it faster."

With that Palmer races off to the house of the woman who pays people to help her sift sand, to make soft sand bags.

It takes time. Palmer's nails always have sand in them by the time they have enough. Then they can go start to look for the Nidoran, when they run into another problem.

There are rumored to be Nidoran on the route. But they can not find them. Instead they find every Starly, Bidoof, and Kricketot that jumps on their path, apparently ready to fight them.

He complains about it to his mom that night at dinner.

"Hmm, I think you need a special sort of person to do that."

"Who is that?"

The special sort of person they need, apparently, is a teenager named Lucy Kane.

"Alright. When we are on the field, you step where I tell you, when I tell you. Got it. I'll lead you to four Nidorans, easy."

Palmer can tell Sakaki does not like her.

"If this does not work, we can always go back to just us. So let's try it." He squeezes his hand. To some surprise Sakaki squeezes back.

"Fine."

"Alright lovebirds, follow me."

Ignoring their protests, Lucy leads them into a particular part of the grass. She then takes out a mukkuri, which is not what he was expecting. She plays it, and stares out into the grass. The grass all moves in the wind, but something must stand out to her.

"Three down and two left."

It is a Nidoran. The quick ball is worth it, and works on the second try.

"Don't move." She announces, and plays it again. "Up two and four left"

Again it is a Nidoran. This one is paler. Maybe it's a male? Palmer does not know his Nidoran.

This battle is harder, the Nidoran stubborn. But finally Sakaki does manage to catch it.

"Do you need to heal?"

"I'm good"

She plays the mukkuri again. "Two right, four down."

This time the battle is difficult. This time Meowth got poisoned. It even looks like the Nidoran is trying to flee, when Lucy calls out to him.

"Palmer use tackle!"

He moves before he thinks about the fact that she just commanded him like a Pokémon.

"Now Sakaki!" he calls out.

Thankfully his best friend's aim is fantastic.

"Heal your pokémon"

Palmer doesn't feel so good. He hears the tune of the mukkuri

"Three right, four up."

Palmer really can't focus on the battle. He slumps on the ground. He feels through his pockets, wondering if he has any antidote? Or berries? Pecha, he thinks. Palmer is pretty sure he knows his berries.

His vision blurs, and he hears the mukkuri play again. Seven stepps. The sounds of battle. He's not allowed to move still. He hears running, and suddenly there are hands pulling him up, hands on his shoulders, then a knee at his back. One hand is opening his mouth, tipping his head back, while the other presumably is holding the glass bottle at his mouth. He drinks it. There is a hand on his throat. Feeling for a heartbeat?

Palmer slowly breathes, trying not to throw up. His head hurts. He opens his eyes and tips his head back, looking up to Sakaki's worried face.

"You Idiot! What were you thinking!"

"She said not to move."

Suddenly he's being hugged from behind. It's a crushing sort of hug. Probably meant to hurt his ribs. "You are such a dumbass"

It's right next to his ear, and it makes him jump a little. Then Sakaki has let go, and is in front of him,shaking him like he's a baby houndour. "Next time you get poisoned, speak up. No! There's not going to be a next time. Got it"

"Stop shaking me, I don't want to throw up on you."

"Can you stand?"

"Maybe."

"Kane, get over here. I hope you have your shiny"

"I do."

"Good for you. Now help me out, we need to carry him."

He gets to the Sandgem pokémon center carried by Sakaki and Lucy. He has to stay the night for supervision, and then another two days to be sure. Sakaki comes over multiple times a day to make sure he drinks water. Lucy comes by to apologize one day.

"I'm sorry for getting you poisoned."

"Why did you command me to tackle a poison type Pokémon?"

"I couldn't let the chain break. Not if I wanted to get my little sister Sadie, her shiny Nidoran."

"Chain?"

"Oh. Never mind. It worked out in the end. Even took less time than I thought it would. Your sacrifice was not in vain, Sadie will be pleased. I even named it after you. Meet Pearl."

"It doesn't look particularly shiny."

"Oh it will. Just you wait until it's leveled. "

"If you say so."

"I do say so."

Sakaki comes in and scowls at her, until she leaves.

"I did the trade. Here are your eggs."

"My eggs? Don't you want one?"

"You got poisoned for them idiot. Besides, I still have the two Nidoran. I'm already three ahead of you. I refuse to have a slacker for a rival."

"Are you really one to talk, given you broke two ribs for your first Pokémon?"

"Breaking two ribs is not as serious as getting poisoned, dummy. And you will still be behind, as you have to hatch them. And then catch up. When you're on your feet, I'm going to head over to Jubilife city. When you are ready to get curb stomped, you know where to find me."

"Oh, I'm not going to go down that easily."

Palmer doesn't know right now that they're not going to complete their league challenge together. Nor become Pokémon professors together. Sakaki is not going to become a man with the same name, or even become an adult in the Sinnoh region.

But this moment is not the future. This moment, every possibility is within their grasp. The beginning of their Pokémon journey. And as they took that step together, the future feels full of possibilities.

Information on Giovanni varies in each medium. And it was even harder to find years ago when I first drafted this. I didn't know their exact ages at the time either, which would have made Palmer Giovanni's youngster rival, which is an even funnier image to me. Ultimately pat me worked hard on this, and I can't bring myself to rewrite it. So I hope you enjoy it