Authors Notes: Hey, chapter two of Defeat is Not the End. Read and Review, and constructive criticism is always welcome! Thanks!
As his pidgeot and son escaped his line of vision Giovanni turned to enter the house. A tear escaped his eye as he approached the door. He knew that he would one day meet his son again, but what he did not know is how their relationship as father and son would be. Would he lose his son forever? Possibly. But it was not the time for him to be concerned with such things.
Giovanni entered the house and wiped away the tear that had escaped his eye. He reached into his pocket and withdrew two spheres with each hand. He clicked the buttons on the front of them and released two balls of energy. The energy soon materialised into two pokemon, a Nidoking and a Nidoqueen. The two pokemon were quite large and bulky. Giovanni looked at the two and gave them a smile. The Nidoking and Nidoqueen gave smiles and roars of greetings to their trainer.
'Hello my friends,' began Giovanni. He pointed at the dining table and chairs sitting on the rug. 'Can the two of you move the furniture here into the kitchen for me?'
The two drill pokemon gave a nod and did as their trainer asked of them and moved the furniture into the kitchen. With the extra furniture the kitchen was practically inaccessible. Giovanni gave a nod as thanks and returned both pokemon into their respective pokeballs. He walked over to the rug with the pokeball design. He knelt down and grasped one of the corners. He lifted the rug and rolled it up, placing it in the corner of the room when he was done. Removing the rug revealed a secret hatch with the letter "R" in red engraved on it. He opened the door which revealed a passage of stairs leading deep underground.
He began his descent underground. It took several minutes before he reached the end of the stairs. Giovanni had reached the point in which he had to choose between three paths to take. Two of the three paths would lead an intruder through many dangerous and cleverly designed traps. The third would lead to a secret Rocket Base. This base being one of the first, and being designed by Giovanni himself, he knew which path to go down. He turned to his left and began walking further into the tunnel.
About half an hour of walking down his chosen path a door made of steel. Like the hatch leading down into the tunnels the door had a large, red letter "R" engraved on it. There was a computer terminal on the right of the door which required a password. Giovanni looked at the terminal and typed the password "Prince of the Rockets, Silver" which opened the steel door. Once open Giovanni entered the large room that was revealed.
The room that Giovanni had entered was a large room with multiple high-tech computers on the left side of the room. To the right were multiple shelving units which contained multiple pokeballs of varying types, ranging from regular pokeballs to ultra balls. There were boxes by the sides of the shelving units containing all manners of items ranging from potions to golden nuggets. In the centre of the room lay a briefcase.
Giovanni walked over casually to the computers. With a press of a button the computers were activated. Giovanni entered a few passwords and gained access to the Rocket network. Luckily for him his executives were currently on the executive private channel. This could be seen by the executives faces appearing on the screens. The executives were discussing proposals to expand Team Rocket to the Sevii Islands and the Johto Region. Giovanni could only think 'I have failed these people, the executives, my friends and allies.'
Giovanni interrupted the meeting of the executives. The four executives were quite surprised to see Giovanni's face on their screens.
'Boss!' exclaimed a woman with red eyes and hair. She wore an unusual white rocket uniform, with the traditional red "R" on the left breast pocket of the uniform. She was the only woman to be appear amongst the executives.
'It is good to see you, Boss Giovanni,' said the second executive wearing an unusual white rocket uniform. He had short teal hair with matching eyes. 'Please excuse us for having a meeting without you sir, but we were unsure of when you would be contacting us.'
Giovanni looked at the executives with a deep frown. He was unsure on how he was going to tell them he was going to disband Team Rocket for the time being. 'My executives, I have news for you all,' he began. 'I have, once again, been defeated by that brat of a prodigy that has made fools of us. The boy, Red.'
'WHAT?' came a shocked, and angry voice from the oldest looking member of the executives. He had short purple hair and beard with black eyes. Unlike the other two that had spoken before, this executive wore a more traditional black uniform. The red letter "R" appeared on his chest instead of the left breast pocket. 'How could you, the Boss of Team Rocket, be defeated by a child? A MERE CHILD?'
Giovanni stared at the purple haired executive for a few moments. 'Calm yourself, Petrel. Although this defeat will delay our plans, we will accomplish our goals, in time. We are disbanding Team Rocket, or so we will let the general public believe.'
The male executive wearing white now began to speak. 'You are to have us act as if we are no more? But why? This will give the impression Team Rocket is weak.'
Giovanni smirked slightly, 'Yes, that is true Archer. But consider this, when it gets out that the leader of Team Rocket was defeated by a child it will be nearly impossible for the organisation to be intimidating anymore. It would become much harder to recruit new members, and even harder to expand. We must stay under the radar for a few years, especially myself. When the opportune moment arises we shall return, and strike fear into the hearts of trainers once more.'
The fourth executive, a man with pale green eyes and hair hidden beneath a black beret. He wore a similar uniform to Petrel. He was clearly the youngest of the executives. 'Boss, I respect your decisions, however, I do not like the idea of closing down the organisation entirely. Perhaps we should move to another, smaller region temporarily? Such as the Sevii Islands?'
Giovanni's eyes shifted across the screen to the fourth executive. 'Ah, Proton. I am afraid that I will not be negotiating this topic. Team Rocket will disband for the time being, but feel free to take the grunts under your command to the Sevii Islands if you wish. But I would not advise high profile activity there.'
The only female executive spoke once more, 'Not up for negotiation? A little selfish are you not? It was all of our hard work and effort put into building Team Rocket to what it is.'
Giovanni's eyes moved to the female executive on the screen. 'Ariana, I ask that you, and all of you executives, to accept my judgement on this matter.'
The executives were silent for several moments. Eventually they said in unison, 'Yes, Boss Giovanni.'
'Giovanni,' began Archer, 'How will you be able to contact us when Team Rocket is ready to resurface?'
Giovanni smirked. 'It is quite simple, Archer. I will be going on a journey over the next few years. On this journey I will be training, becoming stronger, and recruiting new members to join the resurrected Team Rocket. I expect my journeys will take me to many regions we do not have any presence in. It will offer us the chance to become a much larger organisation than ever before…'
'That doesn't answer him!' interupter Petrel.
'…Patience, Petrel!' said Giovanni in a raised voice. 'As I was saying, when I have recruited a number of members I will be causing an event that I have yet to formulise. But this event will be recognisable to all of you. This is how you will know.'
'Yes sir!' said the four in unison.
'One last thing, inform those under you that you will get in contact with them when Team Rocket is going to be resurrected,' said Giovanni. 'And to recruit new people if the opportunity were to arise.'
The four executives gave a nod. Then each in turn began to close down their link to the Rocket Network. Once the last executive, Archer, closed the link, Giovanni did the same. Those four were the people he trusted the most in Team Rocket, which could be assumed by their executive status, but he knew they could get the jobs they were assigned to done.
'Those four should be fine for the years to come,' said Giovanni aloud to himself. His voice echoed slightly around the room. He walked to the centre of the room where the briefcase lay on a table. The briefcase was black and made of leather. Giovanni opened the case revealing empty space in it's hollow belly, and multiple empty compartments. 'Yes, this will be useful in my journey,' he said. He looked over to the shelves of pokeballs on the other side of the room. 'Ah, many old friends are kept here. It would be such a waste to leave them.'
He began moving the multiple pokeballs from the shelves into the briefcase. The pokeballs varied in type, ranging from regular pokeballs to ultra balls. He sealed the briefcase when he had finished moving the pokeballs into it.
Moving to the door he looked back into the room, at the computers that had been turned off to the empty shelving units and the still full boxes of items. He would leave this base, and would likely have no reason to return to it in the future. But it would always continue to be a place he could return to if the need ever arose. After several moments of looking around the room Giovanni began to retrace his steps back to the stairs leading up to the house.
When Giovanni emerged from the stairs a closed the hatch and moved the carpet to once more hide it from view. Nidoking and Nidoqueen were once again released from their pokeballs, this time tasked with moving the dining table and chairs back over the rug from the kitchen.
While the two drill pokemon worked on their assigned task he went into the bedroom closest to the front door. He placed the briefcase on his bed and moved to a wardrobe. He took out a black trench coat and a black fedora. He put them on, picked up the briefcase and moved back out into the main room where the two pokemon seemed to have completed their task.
'Thank you, my friends,' said Giovanni as he returned them to their pokeballs. He placed the pokeballs into his coat pocket. He then began moving items around the house, such as placing a plant in the centre of the table, put all of the glasses away, placing doilies on the table, etc. He left the house when he was satisfied that the house did not look suspicious, or as little suspicious as possible.
Looking around the forest as he exited the house and he was met with luscious greens and browns. He began walking through the forest to find the path that would lead him to Pewter City. 'And now,' he said, 'My journey begins once again.'