Disclaimer: I own neither Pokémon nor its characters

Chapter 19: answers from the boss

I got up and noticed Red and Leaf were gone, but figured they would come back later. After breakfast, Leaf and Red came running back.

"Ok, here's the plan" Leaf said breathless "you, Zain, and Aqua go into the Silph company tower and stop Giovanni, while me and Red try to lose the people chasing us"

Before I could respond, Red pulled Leaf away and they took off running. A moment later, I saw about four people running after them. "What was that about?" Aqua asked

"Oh, they dropped something" Zain said, picking up what looked like a card.

"This must be why their running" I said, thinking about what would cause them to run off like that.

"Well, let's go" Aqua said.

After reaching the final floor of the building, there was a team rocket member blocking our way. "Hey, you're the kids from Mount Moon!" he accused

"I got this one, you guys go ahead" Zain said, pulling out a poke ball.

We ran past as they started battling and soon we got to a room. In the room stood Giovanni, back to us, though I had no idea why. "Well, look who showed up" he said, I could see his smile reflecting from the window. And I see you've brought a friend" I stayed quiet "well, are you going to introduce her?" he asked, turning around.

"Uh…this is Aqua" I said awkwardly

"It's a pleasure to meet you" Giovanni said. We were both silent "just because I'm not exactly 'good,' doesn't mean I have to be rude"

"It's just…I always expected my meeting you to be less…friendly…" Aqua said.

Giovanni nodded "I can understand that" he said, then he snapped his fingers and two guards came "take her outside, don't be too rough"

The guards picked her up and carried her out before she knew what was going on "what was that about?" I asked

"You want answers, and I'm assuming you don't want anyone else to know that" Giovanni said, a knowing smile on his face. "you don't care about what I do, you care about why"

I nodded "you got that from one visit?" I asked

"I thought about how you approached me. You were cautious, but also curious." He said "tell you what. If you can defeat me, not only will I release my hold on the company, but I will also give you answers"

It was promising, and he was giving me a choice. I could walk away, and someone else would take my place, or I could fight, and I could get the answers I wanted.

He took out a poke ball and threw it "go Nidorino!"

"Nidorino!"

"Go Wartortle!" I called, throwing my own Poke ball.

"Wartortle!"

"Nidorino, Poison needle!" Giovanni called. It hit Wartortle dead on

"Wartortle, slash!" I called. He hit and Nidorino was out. Unfortunately, I also noticed Wartortle wincing.

"Go Kangaskhan!" Giovanni said, throwing another poke ball.

"Kangaskhan!"

"Wartortle, head but!" I called, the Kangaskhan was out.

"Go Rhyhorn!" he said, throwing yet another poke ball.

"Rhyhorn!"

"Bubble beam!" I called. Wartortle obliged, and Rhyhorn was out, but I saw him getting weaker.

"Go Nidoqueen!" Giovanni said, throwing another poke ball.

I took out an antidote, and I sprayed Wartortle with it, curing him.

"Nidoqueen, take down!" Giovanni said

"Counter with tackle!" I called. Both Pokémon hit each other dead on, knocking each other out.

"Well, your certainly strong" Giovanni said, returning his Pokémon

"Thanks" I said awkwardly as I returned Wartortle.

"I'm a man of my word, what would you like to know?" Giovanni asked.

I thought about it, and finally decided "why?"

"Why what?" Giovanni asked

"Why does Team Rocket do what it does?" I asked

He laughed "for profit! That's all there is to it!" he said

"Wait, so all of this is for money?" I asked

"Of course!" he said "that's why I took over Silph Co., big business makes a lot of money."

"And you use Pokémon for your personal gain?" I asked

"I don't expect you to accept what I do, all I expect is for you to understand it" Giovanni said

I nodded "I do understand…but isn't there a better way?" I asked

"Of course, but why go through all that trouble when you can just take what you want?" he replied

"You don't care about your Pokémon at all…do you?" I said

"That's where you're wrong" he said "I care about the Pokémon that are personally mine, I just don't care about other peoples"

"But…why not?" I asked "don't all Pokémon deserve the same thing?"

"Your heart is too pure Alex" he said "in the big world, you need to do whatever it takes, or suffer without things you want" I looked at him, not sure what to say "you have your ideal, and I have mine, there's a reason it's your own"

"But…" I didn't know what else to say

"And now, I have fulfilled my promise. See you later" Giovanni said, then he disappeared again.

Zain ran in "Alex, I heard battling, did you win?" he asked

"Yea…everything is fine…" I said, not entirely focused.

"Come on, let's make sure Aqua and Red are ok" he said "oh, Leaf too" I could tell Zain didn't like Leaf all that much, but I was fine with it.

We ran out to see Aqua looking around in confusion "are you ok Aqua?" Zain asked.

"Yea…I'm fine…" Aqua said, again, not entirely focused. Then she noticed me "Alex!" she immediately hugged me.

I hugged back "good to see they didn't hurt you" I said

Once Leaf and Red came back, both exhausted, we decided to head to bed early. My mind swirled with the information I had gotten from Giovanni. He didn't care about other people or Pokémon, but he cared about his own Pokémon…or did he? For all I knew everything he told me was a lie, it could also be truth. It was WAY too much for me to decipher on my own right now, and I soon drifted to sleep.

Yay! Another chapter done! I don't quite remember Giovanni's personality, so I might have put a twist on it unintentionally. Either way, I'm keeping it. It's been a bit hard focusing enough to complete a chapter a day, but I'm trying my best! Remember: I love criticism, reviews encourage me, and I'm open to input. Bye for now!