Mewtwo seemed to catch himself and an instant later his face hardened to its usual stoniness. He shoved the photo back at Giovanni with a snort. "Regardless, I have no business with Cyrus – not directly – and I certainly do not know what your business with him would be." The Psychic started to turn away. "This is not an issue of my concern."

"I… It obviously is!" The Rocket gave a huff of disbelief. "You just told me you helped put away Cyrus the first time!"

"Yes, nearly three years ago!"

"You think that matters?" The Genetic Pokémon started to teleport away, but Giovanni placed a hand on his bony shoulder and forced him to turn about. Mewtwo almost retaliated, but something in his former trainer's eyes must have stopped him, because he actually took a step back. "Now, damnit, I came here against my better judgment because people – and not just my people – are dying over in Sinnoh." He practically shook with frustration as he pointed at the copy. "I did what you asked. I stayed away. That mess with Deoxys… That was you; yougot involved on your own terms. Now I am asking you, begging you, help me. Just this once. Please."

Mewtwo stared at him. "You want us to work together."

"Yes."

"To bring down Cyrus."

"That's the goal."

"As partners."

"Now you're getting it," he said with a relieved smile.

He scoffed. "You made the same claim more than ten years ago before imprisoning me in armour and chains." Mewtwo started to turn; Giovanni once again reached to stop him. This time, he knocked the hand away with a snap of telekinesis. "Do not touch me if you value that hand!"he snarled.

"Look at yourself; you're blinded by your own preconceptions and anger!"

"I have no reason to trust you, nor have you given me one!"

"And I had no guarantee you would not kill me on sight, yet I came unarmed! I brought a useless catas protection!"

Here, Persian finally looked up at them and hissed at his insult. But Giovanni wasn't finished.

He seethed, "Now, look, I am one of roughly seven people outside the Sinnoh government who knows what is going on. The Diet obviously has no idea how to deal with this kind of situation." He gave a very heavy, ragged sort of sigh and was suddenly showing all fifty-six of his years. "I told Councillor Tanaka I would speak to my 'source' – you – and try to convince you to help."

"Then you admit defeat in this matter."

"Cyrus has three legenda-!"

"And you admit you need my assistance, beyond all of your riches and investments."

"Yes, I-" He stopped and noticed a smirk playing across Mewtwo's face. "My Arceus, you're actually enjoying this!" Giovanni exclaimed incredulously.

"There is a certain poetic justice to the situation."

He bristled. "Yes. I need you."

Mewtwo moved his paw in a circular motion and eyed him expectantly.

"What?"

"I do believe you can figure that out."

"I…" Giovanni's jaw dropped as he realized what was going on. The nerve!"No, we are not doing this now. This is a strictly business meeting. We are meeting as potential business partners and nothing further."

"Then you agree we are equals."

"Yes. For the time being," he amended.

"And if I refuse to assist you?"

"I will leave with nothing further and let your self-righteous conscience take care of you."

The Pokémon's smirk twitched into a frown. "You are a businessman to the bitter end, Giovanni…" He uncrossed his arms. "Very well. But my cooperation is conditional."

"To… what extent?" he asked with a slight grimace.

"Condition number thirty-two: 'Do not pose more questions than necessary.'"Mewtwo waved a paw –

- and in a flash of azure light, the three were standing atop a tall building. Giovanni stumbled, momentarily disoriented, and in that second felt he was going to disgorge his Starbucks latte over the side of the building. Persian seemed unaffected and padded over to her companion. She voiced a concerned, "Nya!" and nuzzled his hand.

"I'll be fine," he muttered, and turned to face Mewtwo a few paces away. "Prior warning would have been polite!"

"Rule thirty-four: 'Do not questions my action nor judgment without due concern.'"

"You have a list?"

"I also have plentiful spare time."

"…Just how many of these 'rules' are there?"

"Two hundred twelve and counting."

"You are truly one of the most outrageous individuals I have ever encountered."

A harsh sound, which he could only assume to be Mewtwo's version of a laugh, cut across his mind. "You funded Doctor Fuji's genetic experiment. My demeanour is your fault." The Psychic shook his head. "Though I digress. Exactly what do you need to know?"

"Everything."

"You won't get that."

"Fine. But I do need to know how you are involved with this matter. How did this start?"

"With you – indirectly."

"Me?What?"

Mewtwo glared at him askance, turned to the lit city. "A woman by the name of Sird – one of yours, yes? – captured a Deoxys back near the Orange Islands a few years ago. I pursued her relentlessly before she eventually shook me off in Sinnoh. However, I soon learned that Sird was not exactly your operative."

"You can't be serious," Giovanni insisted, stepping up to the legend and crossing his arms over his jacketed chest. "Sird is among my most loyal admins."

"Hm. Then why was she reporting directly to Cyrus? Apparently she is a very talented spy if even you did not suspect her…"

He grated his teeth. "I'll deal with that later… go on."

"It was at that point I learned of Cyrus' plans. I informed the Alpha, and Arceus, Giratina. It was decided that he should be locked away lest he wreak any more havoc on the world. I knew from my experiences with you that his intentions were anything but noble." He put up a paw to stop any oncoming protests from the Rocket. "…And so, Cyrus was imprisoned in the Distortion World – an alternate dimension of sorts – with Giratina. As for Sird and the whole of Team Galactic… I assume they went back to their jobs."

"As would I. Sird had continued updating me regularly on her operations in Sinnoh until about a month ago. Now I know why." Even in the dimness, his gaze darkened further yet. How could he have been so careless? Giovanni silently cursed himself and looked at the Psychic. He nodded for him to continue.

Mewtwo stared at him blankly. "What?"

"Well, how did he escape?"

"I do not know. That is a relatively moot point, though, is it not?"

"On the contrary. Obviously, and correct me if I'm wrong, which I doubt, but Cyrus could not have escaped on his own. He had to have someone of relative power to free him, yes?"

"I suppose so."

"Which means…" He prompted the Genetic Pokémon to finish. His scowl had turned to an almost hopeful smile.

"…That whoever freed Cyrus is likely someone in a certain field – perhaps scientific or political - and someone close to Cyrus."

"And we have a starting point." Giovanni chuckled, bemused at the absurdity of the situation. It was just going so well!Here they were, together again, working as a team, trainer and Pokém—

He stopped the train of thought before it went any further. Mewtwo must have sensed it because he shot the Viridian gym leader a harsh look.

"I apologize," he said carefully. "Old habits die hard, you know."

"As do memories. This partnership will not work if you keep looking at me like one of your employees – or worse, one of your team. I am neither."

"I understand. Arceus, you sound like a broken record!" Giovanni clasped his hands behind his back and stared out onto the city. Tightly, he replied, "And you must remember than I have been a gym leader for nearly thirty years, and leader of Rocket for just as long."

"Then I suppose if you desire my assistance you will have to create a few new habits."

"I suppose so. How long will I need to hold on to these… habits?"

"A week. A month. Three months. I don't know. However long it takes until we succeed or you give up."

"And what makes you think I'll give up?"

"History."

"The future is not set in stone."

"The past repeats itself."

"Then according to history, you shouldn't be standing here lecturing me. You should be some doodle in a science fiction magazine." Giovanni gave a low chuckle and winked at him. "Now, we'll need to head back to Saffron."

"We?" Mewtwo's tone seemed downright dubious.

He blinked and cleared his throat. "Well, yes. Frankly, I'd prefer to conduct business in an office rather than an alley or a rooftop at one in the morning." He paused. "Unless, of course, you prefer this."

"Will I have access to all computers?"

"Every system."

"I can assume there is no army awaiting my arrival back at your headquarters?"

"I am the only person who knows you are involved. Well – excluding Persian."

The cat looked up from cleaning her paw. She gave an annoyed, "Mrow," and resumed her grooming. Mewtwo "hmph"ed, but nothing more.

Her trainer looked between the two. "What? What did she say?"

"Rule twelve: 'Do not ask for a translation each and every time a Pokémon addresses me.'"

"Fine. …Shall we…?"

"Rule forty-seven: 'I am not your personal transporter.'"

"You really are insufferable."

"Oh?" The Psychic mimicked the general action of raising one's eyebrow, tail twitching behind him. "And you are not?"

"I'm not the one with a drawn-out 'rulebook' of conduct with unofficial co-workers."

Mewtwo narrowed his violet eyes. "The last train before six leaves in fifteen minutes."

"All right, damn you, I'm sorry!" He sighed in aggravation and waved Persian over.

"I will see to it you have a copy of the conditions." He started forward. "We will go to the back entrance."

Giovanni started to back off but the Pokémon grabbed his upper arm in a vice grip.

"This is your prior warning."

Panic rose in him for a brief moment and he suddenly went numb. He only hoped Persian was still under his hand. "Now hold on a moment-"

- He was once more cut off as a wind swept the trio up in a rush of blue. He felt every cell, every nervetear apart and it seemed it would never end and he couldn't scream, he couldn't and then –

- it did. His feet found solid ground. The leader was quite sure he would have collapsed if not for Mewtwo still clutching his arm.

"Rule thirteen: 'Do not complain about the process nor aftereffects of teleportation, should I be generous enough to take you with me.'"

He straightened and just looked at Mewtwo. "Do you get some kind of perverse pleasure out of this? Do you enjoywatching me suffer? Just a little?"

"Believe me or don't, Giovanni, but I would never wish death upon you."He strode towards the back door, tail waving lazily in the air, before stopping at the control to send a few last words his way:

"I would rather see you rot in jail for the next one hundred years."

And Giovanni knew this was going to feel like the longest, most difficult operation in his life.