Pokémon Trainer Hero

Chapter 67: Failure

Station: Several Days Ago

Location: Unknown

Time: Three Hours After the Sports Festival

Three blimps flew over a small clearing within a dense forest. The clearing revealed itself to be a hidden hanger that slowly opened up and one by one did the three blimps fly into the hanger before it slowly closed back up and retook Its appearance as an open field. Once the blimps were inside they rocked at their separate hangers and all the people on board each, or really whoever was left, filled off one by one using the provided stairs. The first one to exit to the ground floor while also being the last to exit the blimp was none other than Giovanni, who half stumbled down the stairs and collapsed to the cold concrete floor, dry heaving and clutching his body in pain! Sweat beaded on his forehead and soaked his suit, his pupils dilated, and his mind racing with thoughts of anger! As he lay on the floor his admin all ran down to him in a panic!

"Boss Giovanni!", yelled Petrel.
"Sir!", called Proton.
"Darling!", exclaimed Ariana.

"Master Giovanni!", shouted Archer.

Archer and Ariana were the first to his sides as they tried to help Giovanni back up, while Giovanni lay there in a heap on the ground! Giovanni growled and spat out through his teeth, "Bibarel dammit! I can't believe it! I can't believe I lost everything to that little Shiinotic, again! I can't believe I failed, even after all this!"

"Yes, you certainly have Giovanni. You certainly have failed, again.", chimed in a very very old voice, vexing in agreement with him as he laughed.

Giovanni lifted his head and caught sight of someone didn't want to deal with, especially now. He was an old man, far older than him, and looking down on him with a smug expression. His hair was stark white and very long, long enough to reach far past his shoulders with five stray locks spread around his head. Three on top that was swept back and two on the sides were also swept back. His face was pale and showed heavy signs of aging. His face was a landscape strewn with wrinkles that carved his face like canyons. Liver spots dotted his exposed neck and corners of his hair like a pointillism painting. And crows feet that dug so far across his eyes they nearly meshed with his wrinkles. His one exposed eye was losing color and the other was covered by a strangely shaped patch with red glass. Even some of his teeth had fallen out leaving small creators when he smiled. His whole body was completely covered by an illustrious rope that was made up of many colors with mirroring sides of different colors patterned into the shape of two eyes. The collar of the cloak was wide and large and golden in color with upward-facing parts that made it look like he was wearing a royal crown. On his breast was an insignia in the shape of an eclectic blue P with a backward running through it. The only other part of his body that wasn't covered was his left arm which was black with two golden rings on his forearm. In that hand's grasp was a staff that he heavily leaned on, like a cane. It looked like a cane crossed with the wheel of an old ship, and in the center was the same insignia.

Giovanni snarled at the old man and spat, "Shut your damn mouth Ghetsis! Like you could do any better!"

Ghetsis laughed at his response and told him, "I spent half my life planning my original plan. I took my time and you rushed straight into yours."

"You waited too long, and still ended up failing, twice!", Giovanni shot back angrily, making the decrepit old man sneered at him.

"I suppose that makes me the medium of you two, as I ended up succeeding in my goal.", said a new voice accompanied by the clicking of boots.

The two men moved their heads to the voice and saw another older man approaching them. He holds a consistent dark and brooding expression on his face as he approaches without any hesitation. His hair is spiked up and blue with very defined and tight features on his face. The only signs of aging are the crow's feet on his eyes. The uniform he wears bears a symbol in the shape of a yellow S, that is pinned to his vest on his left upper breast. The uniform itself consists of a long-sleeve black shirt with a gray vest over it, long black pants designed similarly to the shirt sleeves, and gray shoes.
Giovanni growls at him and half yells, "You shut up too, Cyrus! You didn't succeed! All you did was piss off Giratina and get dragged into The Distortion World! Which is the only reason you've lived this long without any signs of aging. I still don't even know why you're back."

Cyrus's expression remained unchanged as he refused to break eye contact with the man at his feet, and told him, "I didn't come off my own fruition, you know this. But this time I'll make the whole world and all worlds are just like the Distortion World. Perfect nothingness."

Ghetsis rolled his eyes at his lackluster statement and said under his aging breath, "And people say I'm crazy."

"Have you two simply come to gloat and talk me down? If so I don't wanna hear it!", He yelled at the two men as his subordinates finally helped him to his feet.

Ghetsis chuckled at his question and told him, "Oh no no no, we're here to tell you that our….provider wants to speak to you."

Giovanni's eyes widened at this news and he felt his body begin to break out into a cold sweat! He even felt one of his subordinates, who was holding him up, violently shiver for a few seconds.

"You had better hurry.", Cyrus told him with his bland yet serious tone before walking away.

Giovanni swallowed hard and allowed his subordinates to half drag him to the meeting room where their provider would be waiting for him. Ghetsis chuckled coldly as Giovanni left and the older mob boss opted to ignore him. It only took a few minutes for him to make it to the meeting room He was expected to be at, nothing more but a cold metal door separating him from somebody who had far more power than any mute to he could create.

One of the subordinates opened the door and helped him inside. The room was cold and dark with its only furniture being a chair, a very dim overhead light and a TV sat upon a small wooden table. The TV was active and broadcasting nothing but static, but soon it faded and revealed the image of a very large and imposing man's silhouette sitting in an equal darkroom as he is. Giovanni was placed in the single chair and his subordinates stood right behind him, cowering in fear of the man on screen, hopelessly trying to hide their nerves.

"Giovanni. Welcome back.", greeted the man in a cold calm voice.

"All for One.", Giovanni greeted back, trying to swallow his nerves.

It took him a few minutes before the man replied, but when he did, he spoke in a calm tone that was fully laced with displeasure. Telling the older mob boss, "I see you have failed as I predicted you would. You were given an ample warning and you still disobeyed me. Need I remind you that even though you are a boss, I'm your boss now. Now you've gone and lost everything. Your troops, your supplies and tech, your Grunts Pokemon, and even that little science experiment that I allowed you to cook up with Doctor Garaki. I'm rather disappointed in you."

"I thought I could-.", Giovanni tried to defend himself, only to be cut off by the imposing man on screen.

"And you thought wrong. You are too impatient and headstrong. An unwanted combination under that façade of cool composure.", he cut into his defense as Giovanni bit his tongue and diverted his eyes to the ground while clutching it to his pant legs. "Do you have anything to say?", All for One asked with a threatening tone.

Giovanni grunted a sound on his tongue arched his head down and gripped his pants so tight they were just strands from tearing as he pleaded, "Give me another chance, please."
All for One was silent as he stewed about his final decision. Several seconds felt like an eternity for Gio. Until the man on the TV finally said, "Very well, but this is your last one so don't waste it. You're lucky I need you and your knowledge on genetics.", Giovanni lifted his head in relief, just in time to see a green beam emerge from the screen and blast him in a soothing light! The beam started on him for several seconds then stopped, allowing Giovanni to realize that all his injuries and fatigue were all gone. He patted himself over in shock as All for One told him, "And consider this my last mercy to you, so don't go breaking your body anymore."

Giovanni gulped and replied in a submissive tone, "Yes."

With that, the TV turned off, leaving Giovanni in the nearly dark room. He and his admins left in a hurry and once they were several yards from the metal door they finally stopped and bent over with fearful exhaustion. Giovanni breathed heavily with stress for several minutes before grinding his teeth in frustration!

He shot up and yelled, "Get my Rotom phone and call him up."

His admins scattered once he shouted his command, and within a few minutes, Proton came running in with a Red and Black Rotom phone that was already dialing a number. The man released the Pokémon and it floated up to Giovanni's ear the moment the other end picked up.

"Hello~Hohoooo!", a young voice answered in a sing-song tone

"You!", Giovanni yelled.

"Me?", the voice replied.

"You planned this, didn't you Bayo! You son of a Marowack!", Giovanni cursed the person.

Bayo was silent for a moment before asking in a casual tone, "Is that you, Giovanni? How did everything go? Did you get your petty vengeance like you so desperately wanted?"

"You set me up you little Impidimp!", he snapped at him.

"Me? What gives you that idea?", Bayo asked before having a realization and exclaiming, "Don't tell me! You lost, didn't you! That's hilarious!"

Giovanni growled as Bayo laughed at his misfortune. Giovanni then yelled to him, making him stop his laughter, "You must've tipped them off, didn't you! I should've won that hands down and crushed every last one of them! Including that little Shiinotic, Garfield!"

Bayo sighed over the phone and said in a shamefully disappointed tone, "Oh Gio, when are you gonna learn?"

"What?!", he snapped back.

Bayo let out a small giggle before explaining in a smug tone, "It's your fault this has all happened. All I did was fund and prepare you. If not for me, you would've never had a chance from the beginning. I helped scrape what was left of your pathetic old team. I gave you the funds, Pokemon, and Technology you needed. I taught you those self-defense moves so you could have a chance against anyone of your decreasing age. And I was the one who let you take a portion of my Mew's DNA to create that other Mewtwo, despite my better judgment. So if anything, you should thank me."

"THANK YOU!?", he shouted back incredulously.

Bayo chuckled at his reaction and said, "You're welcome. So is that all? We're done here, right?"

"We are not done here!", Giovanni exclaimed with a red face.

Bayo signed exasperatedly at this ongoing conversation and told him flatly, "Of course we are. I helped you, and you took my gifts for granted and ended up losing instead of waiting for a chance to strike. Oh, and by the way.", he added before hanging up, making Giovanni calm down enough to feel confused. "I can't wait to work alongside you shortly. Or rather I'll be working above you if all goes well.", he told him ominously.

"What?", Giovanni asked with shock.

"Bye-Bye.", Bayo greeted him off before abruptly hanging up, leaving a shocked and anxiety-filled Giovanni to stand there staring at the phone with beads of sweat rolling down his face.