The Grandee

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

The large wall clock read one-thirty in the morning in the mess hall at the Team Rocket headquarters where Ethan voluntarily led me to get coffee. He stated it was off limits after eleven, and thankfully, there were no lurkers to be found. A couple of overhead lights were still on. It felt like a cafeteria in a school.

My feelings were unstable at the moment, and the only person I could confide in was now my enemy. I told myself I was crazy, but my excuse allowed me to join this topsy-turvy reality.

"Does it really have to be like this though?" Ethan asked. I walked over to a bench table while he- out of obligation- made both our drinks from an instant maker on the other side of the dining area.

I furrowed my brows at his question as it spiraled and eventually faded down in my mind. When he came back and handed me the foam cup I took a sip and watched the steam rise, relishing in how the antioxidants seeped into my skin. It felt nice against my swollen eyes.

"What I want to know is why." My voice cracked harshly.

Like me, Ethan didn't speak. This angered me. There was no way he could avoid the topic. I knew who he was. Who he really was. I determinedly believed I could stop the man in front of me from humiliating himself any further. But he needed to speak.

"That wasn't a question. It was an order." My narrowed eyes looked up at him to find him gazing over my head. I could tell he was formulating the explanation. Fingertips tapping the side of the cup like a timer, I waited the best I could with a grim expression.

Though the best he could do was, "I was asked to."

I scoffed. That definitely wasn't the answer I wanted. But what was I really expecting? A life or death situation?

Unsatisfied, I hissed. "Try again."

"Dammit, Lyra, I can't!" He stood up abruptly and threw his cup to the floor. It was an in-the-moment thing and after he looked dismayed. "Oh no. Now I have to clean it up!"

I shouted after him as he went over to the counter to get some napkins. "How do you expect us to get anywhere if you're not honest!"

Without a word, he came back to the spot where the coffee was still spreading and soaked it up and threw the waste away like a well disciplined child. For a moment he faced the trashcan until he turned his head around and looked at me as if he had an idea.

"Well?"

"I know a better way." He started to the door. "But I'm warning you,-"

I got up and followed him out. "Will this tell me the truth?"

"-your not going to like the truth." We both said the last word in unison.

"I'm not some type of baby that needs sheltering."

"But after the way you've responded the last couple of days, I feel like you should. I'm really worried too, Lyra. About all of this."

I eyed him carefully but said nothing.

It took a few minutes as Ethan led me around the dark building. Once he spoke, "Showing you is better than telling you." And I tried to mentally prepare myself but wasn't sure what he was talking about.

We started walking down a wing of the building with signs that read 'Administrative Only' but they were ignored as I determinedly marched past them. Ethan on the other hand, looked hesitant. I realized he was breaking Rocket rules, but hey, what did I personally care? I gave myself no reason to fear what enveloped me while I successfully kept the bubbling pit in my stomach from rising.

He stopped as soon as we turned a corner, and with me not paying attention, I bumped in to him. I maneuvered myself around him to keep on moving, but I my efforts were halted by a wall that stretched horizontally down past the depths of my vision. My eyes widened as I found Giovanni there, in the spotlight, glaring down at me.

His two-dimensional figure could strike inspiration or fear to the people who worked for him, his suit clean and wrinkle free, his jaw square and eyes slanted, his hand place firmly and possessively on the scruff of his Persian, who mirrored his master's appearance. The frame looked like it was meticulously carved, bordering and sealing the boss's legacy with a single nameplate underneath that read:

Giovanni

The Beloved Boss who

rooted his ideas in Team Rocket's foundation.

The Revolutionizer.

I scoffed and shook my head. Ethan came beside me and pointed out a ring on his finger.

"The Rocket Ring symbolizes the autocratic reign from one boss to the next. His mother wore it," He gestured toward a picture I did not see before, but it was shrouded in the dark, with only the edge illuminated by the lights shining proudly from Giovanni's picture. "and so did his successor. Unknown to me, the next in line had to be blood-related..."

He moved away to reveal another photo to the right. My hands quickly covered my mouth, muffling a gasp.

And there he was. Just as I had seen him hours before. With his face twisted in discomfort, I stared at the red haired man who I thought moved on to bigger and better things.

But I certainly was not expecting this.

If someone told me to point out the resemblance between the two, I couldn't. Their expressions were the polar opposite. Silver's face held a softness to it, but his piercing red eyes stole away his friendliness I knew. They were clouded, and emotionless, and uncertain. They were eyes that didn't look willing to watch over Team Rocket.

If I had a grudge with the young man next to me, I don't know what I had with the other in front of me. Sure, my original plan was to absolve Ethan of his 'crime' when I managed to coax him out of the cult named Team Rocket, though I didn't know how to handle the situation that lay in front of me.

"This...is what I've been trying to hide. I'm so sorry Lyra. I don't know how it happened. He never told me. Actually, I haven't seen him since he asked me to join the team."

As Ethan tried to pull me back to reality, he successfully did so with that last statement. As much as I feared speaking, my curiosity and concern took over. That struck me as odd. "What? Why?"

Ethan shrugged, "He told me Team Rocket was going to be different when he was boss, that it was going to be for good intentions, disregarding his father's dying wish. I thought he'd keep in touch with me, maybe even promote me because we were friends. But then he started acting weird...and finally disappeared into the deeper hallways of the organization."

"Well have you tried reaching him?"

"Yes, but then the other admins threatened to fire me. If I was banned from entering again, then it would have been even harder to reason with him."

"So Silver has done nothing about it? I said, surprised. Ethan nodded. Shooting a hateful glare towards Silver's awkward portrait, I replied, "Where is he?"

"Probably still in his office doing paperwork, but-"

"Take me there." He looked at me incredulously like I was crazy.

"But the guards, and their weapons-"

"You have your Pokémon, right? If you plan on helping me, know's the time to do it." He looked unsure but nodded and took off. I followed him at the heels.

Our footsteps began to pad against the plush carpet before reaching a large door blocked by a pair of grunts. Ethan flashed them his ID.

"I was ordered to bring the Champion to the Boss under sudden circumstances."

Both grunts looked doubtful. "At two o'clock in the morning? I don't think so."

He looked at the other guard who shrugged, "Yeah, sorry Ethan. We know the Champion was your friend and all, so the boss told us to deny you if you tried to help her." Both of us looked at each other, our sly smiles forming and balancing each other's out.

"Well, I guess I can't argue." Swiftly, Ethan maximized his Poké Ball and released it in front of us. "Meganium, help us out here and use Body Slam."

And before the grunts had a chance to use their weapons on us, or even take out Pokémon of their own, Ethan's prized starter Pokémon dropped down onto the pair, their arms flailing out beneath its underbelly.

In that moment when I looked at Ethan...I didn't know what to think of him anymore. Friend or foe? He looked after me for the short time I was here, but I rejected his sympathy because I was too focused on that damn hat of his. Though it still haunted my thoughts, knowing that it was apart of Ethan now, I decided to ignore it. Because he already knew who he was. And his reason for joining Team Rocket wasn't because he was evil, it was because he too planned to take Silver away from this wretched place. Absolutely nothing could be born here that lived to be pure and good. It was a makeshift hell; pretentious in the thought that the world was theirs for the taking.

Ethan was the exact opposite. I could see it in him.

But then I remembered why I was here and quickly stood determined. Sending a thank you to Meganium, Ethan and I side-stepped her and her captives, and he scanned his ID card.

I breathed in deeply and fisted my hands to quit them from shaking slightly. When the glided open, I could already feel the aura left by Giovanni. His legacy. Surprisingly, I wasn't intimidated. This only fueled my determination.

His head slowly turned away from another one of his administrators in front of his desk at least twenty feet away. It was a large office with a window covering the northern wall, I observed from my peripheral vision. Large enough for a boss's ego. And the few extra people that stood around in standby mode watched me in my rage. I heard a group of grunts run into the office, probably there to take me away. I didn't care to look; my glare was strictly reserved for the redhead in the center.

When I stomped up to him, staring him down, he looked stunned as if I had risen from the dead. His eyes were wide, mine were slanted. His mouth was agape, mine was pressed firmly in a thin line. The sharp noise of my palm connecting with the side of his face echoed and his followers gasped. There suddenly was a flock of grunts surrounding me with weapons. I didn't care. I just kept staring at Silver.

I could barely here Ethan whisper worriedly next to me, "Lyra..."

Silver moved his own hand to where I slapped him, his expression changing from surprise, unbelief, confusion, to fury. "Leave the girl here. Everyone else out."

"But Boss-"

"I'll handle her myself." The protest came without another reply and the grunts lined up and headed out the door. Ethan glanced at Silver in attempt to ask if he was permitted to stay. But he pointed a finger to the exit.

"No. Ethan stays by me." At first I wondered where my friend's courage went at that moment, because his timid stature was off compared to the past. He was naturally shy, but now I was just yanking on his leash to sit and obey. I blamed it on Team Rocket. On Silver.

And said ruler crossed his arms, openly showing disapproval towards his employee. A silent conversation seemed to go between the two.

I was surprise, and suddenly took back my some of my thoughts when I heard a reply from Ethan.

"I could hardly care. Fire me. Fire the only friend you have here. Since we never seen each other anyways, you wouldn't care, right?"

Silver scoffed. "Did you ever care to read the handbook? Once you join Team Rocket, your a grunt for life." It took Ethan all of his willpower not to hit him, but it probably would have been much harder compared to mine. His hands balled into tight fists but Silver continued, "And because I'm the guy with the ring, I give the orders."

He went over to his oversized desk and pushed something located underneath his desk. In an instant, the previous group of grunts that were going to take me away, took Ethan away.

"No!" When I tried to stop them, they pushed me aside. There were so many of them, and Ethan struggled to get out of the mob, but he soon disappeared out the door before I could follow them.

I turned around, gritting my teeth in a rage similar to how my red Gyrados was back at the Lake of Rage. Silver was now at his desk, fingers interlaced and elbows placed on his desk.

"To be honest, I thought you wouldn't be this upset."

I couldn't help throwing my head back and laughing hysterically at Silver's stupidity. "No, no, no, Boss! I'm not upset! How could I even be furious or disappointed? Even though I haven't heard from you in a few years and then suddenly find out your the new Rocket leader, whom all we once loathed, how could I be anywhere near that emotion?"

"I would appreciate the lack of sarcasm."

"Oh I'm sorry your Highness." I spat. "I guess I should be in love with the fact that you have been lying to me for the past four years!"

Silver stood up abruptly and thrust an index finger at me. "I never lied! If I lied to you, you would know. If I told the truth, you would come defeating me while I was still weak. I never lied because we never talked. We never talked because I was avoiding you," he jutted his finger at me again, "so the next time we would meet, I would be ready. But Goddammit Lyra! Now's not the time!" He slammed his fist on his large, burgundy desk and I could have sworn I heard a crack. I stood appalled, understanding what he just said.

"So joining Team Rocket was just so that you could beat me?" I rudely concluded.

"No!-"

"Silver's recruitment was out of curiosity and obligation, Champion."

Both me and said boss looked in the direction of the new voice coming from a new pair of automatic doors. Out casually stepped a tall man in a promoted-looking Team Rocket suit as dark as his hair, and eyes displaying cockiness, advanced toward me.

"Oh, Daias, its you." Silver said gruffly as he began fixing up his suit.

"And at an extremely lucky time I suppose. Nobody wants the Boss angry, now do they?" The strange man glared at me in fault but I kept my eyes locked onto his. He was the first to blink and turn away without much interest at glancing back. I instantly grew cold towards him. There was something about him. He was...off somehow.

Handing Silver some papers, he strode over to another button and pressed it. Up popped a holographic image of the infamous 'R' symbol.

"A lot has happened while you were away Lyra." The man named Daias explained. "Unbeknownst to you, your little childhood rival has become the ultimate leader of the Rocket Corporation. But since you two got off on the wrong foot, I'll explain the details."

I watched as Daias brought out what looked to be a screen from the inside of his suit, bringing it to life with a swipe of his finger. Soon, he was controlling the holograph that hovered before us.

"It wasn't long ago when Giovanni was thinking about retiring. Because I was his right hand man, he asked if I'd make contact with his long lost son, who was your both your rival and friend. Did Silver know he was the heir? Indeed he did."

Silver made no move. No explanation. No argument. No nothing. I stood there, astounded and infuriated. A wild, yet contained grin spread on Daias' face.

New statistics regarding Team Rocket appeared on the glowing diagram. "Now, because of Silver's refusal, Giovanni sternly made the decision to stay as the Boss until his son realized his destiny. However, his unfortunate fate of dying in his sleep before he abdicated from authority led to Silver willingly take responsibility." He made a strange face, "If Silver hadn't said yes, my duty was to uphold my name as deputy and step up as leader."

I narrowed my eyes toward the man, "Would you think Giovanni would survived if he had retired in time?"

Daias glanced at me and frowned. "That would be something to think about. But it is hard to, since death is uncontrollable."

I could tell that Silver tensed up suddenly and eyed me, but I continued to scrutinize Daias.

"And since Giovanni's plans became private the last few years he was in control, most of us are spending hours upon hours researching and studying what exactly his goal was after collecting all legendary Pokémon."

He proceeded to type in something on the screen, wherein an outline of a Pokémon appeared.

"That's where you come in."

My attention flashed back to Daias. "You mean, I was brought here because of you?"

The deputy shook his head, "No, you were brought here because of Silver. He said you had quit a way with Pokémon. So Ethan was just the captor."

Silver and I exchanged a glance, his red eyes searching mine for approval.

"Well, I guess that's why they call me the Champion." I stated.

Daias let a smile uncoil again, aiding to the suspicion of his sharp and business-like features. "Very good. Now, as for your mission," he began, typing in a few more things onto the screen, "you are to train and 'befriend' our current experiment."

The outline of the Pokémon on the hologram re-pixilated into one with its features that I've never seen before. "I don't understand."

"Lyra, Champion of Johto and Kanto, you are to take charge of Team Rocket's key to success: Legizeroth, the newest addition to the Pokémon universe."

Soooo sorry this is late! Very, very late. The last two weeks were extremely busy for me, and I also didn't know how to write this chapter. It really wasn't what I wanted it to be, but the end kind of reached most of my expectations for the unraveling of the plot. Hopefully it will be decent enough to make up for the wait. -_- But hey, this is my longest chapter yet!

Silver being the new boss wasn't something I planned to be a surprise (because it was an easy guess) but the new pokemon thing is! I honestly hadn't realized that I recreated the past when Silver decided to make Legizeroth, just like Giovanni made Mewtwo. It struck me when I was writing the middle of this chapter. Well, Like father, like son. But this time it's going to be a bit different ;). And why is Silver awake at 2 am in the morning? I have no idea xD.

Happy Reading!