Giovanni, impeccably dressed in a tailored black suit, reclined in a leather chair, casually sipped a glass of aged Kanto berry wine. Giovanni's sharp eyes scanned a stack of documents detailing his latest ventures—smuggling routes, black-market Poké Ball sales, and a new casino front in Johto.
'With Mewtho somewhat useful now, I can direct him to go to dangerous regions like Mt.Silver along with an executive and a squad. They would be able to catch rare Pokemon that normally stay in such areas. With Mewtho's powers, It would be a walk in a park.'
The evening was calm with silence as Giovanni analysed the documents until the door burst open with a bang, shattering the silence.
Executive Archer, sweat beading on his brow was the culprit.
"Sir, bad news!" he gasped, clutching the doorframe, his voice cracking like a Pidgey caught in a storm.
Giovanni set his wine glass down with deliberate calm, his expression unreadable. "Archer," he said, his voice smooth as a Hypno's pendulum, "take a breath, stay calm, and then tell me what happened. Panicking is for grunts, not executives."
Archer gulped, straightening his tie, though his hands trembled. "Sir, Team Aqua's attacking our agents in Hoenn! The ones they helped bypass border checks—they're getting ambushed left and right. And…" He hesitated, wincing. "They hit our new bases in Hoenn—Littleroot, Slateport, even the Rustboro safehouse. Torched 'em all."
Giovanni's eyes sharpened, a glint of steel beneath his composure. "Did we get a reason for this retaliation?" he asked, leaning forward, his fingers steepled.
Archer nodded, pulling a crumpled note from his pocket, his voice dropping to a near-whisper. "One of Aqua's commanders sent a message. I quote: 'Fuck you Rocket bastards, you slimy Magikarp-gutted, Wurmple-brained traitors! We knew you weren't trustworthy, you backstabbing Psyduck-spawn!'"
Archer's attempt to mimic the commander's gruff tone faltered, his voice cracking on "Psyduck-spawn," prompting Persian to tilt its head, unimpressed.
Giovanni raised an eyebrow, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips. "Creative vocabulary," he remarked dryly. "What sparked this… colorful outburst?"
Archer shifted uncomfortably. "They claim one of our people attacked their base on an islet near Moro Island in the Orange Archipelago. Killed everyone except a single survivor, who reported the attack."
Giovanni's gaze hardened, his fingers tapping the desk. "Who was it? Did they give a name or description?" Archer's face paled, his eyes darting to the corner of the room, where Executive Petrel stood, casually polishing a Poké Ball, his purple hair—short at the sides with a dramatic curl atop—gleaming under the light.
Archer stuttered, "It was… Executive Petrel, sir." The room froze. Petrel's Poké Ball slipped from his hands, clattering to the floor, his purple eyes widening in shock.
"WHAT?!" he shouted, his voice a mix of outrage and disbelief, his beard quivering. "Me? Attack Aqua? That's a load of Tauros dung! I was here all week, running the Celadon slot machines and feeding my Murkrow! Aqua's lying, those waterlogged, Krabby-pinched liars!" He flailed, nearly knocking over a vase of imported Lum Berries, his face reddening to match his jumpsuit's gold lines while Archer shrank back, muttering, "That's what the survivor from Team Aqua said and what they told us, sir…"
Giovanni raised a hand, silencing Petrel's tirade. "Enough." He leaned back, his eyes narrowing. Petrel froze, his indignation deflating, waiting for judgment.
After a long pause, Giovanni spoke, his voice steady. "It wasn't Petrel. He wouldn't defy my orders. I trust him." Petrel's eyes watered, a tear glistening as he clutched his chest. "Boss… you believe me?" he sniffled, his curl bobbing emotionally.
Giovanni's smirk was faint. "And," he added, "Petrel isn't so incompetent as to leave a survivor." Petrel's gratitude morphed into a pout. "Hey, I'm not incompetent!" he protested, crossing his arms. Archer stifled a nervous laugh, while Persian who was sitting nearby flicked its tail, as if to say, 'Debatable.'
Giovanni's gaze darkened, his fingers drumming. "Someone else orchestrated this to sabotage our alliance with Team Aqua. Someone who knows Petrel's role in Team Rocket and our dealings with Aqua." His eyes flicked to the ceiling, a rare flicker of unease crossing his face.
Suddenly, they widened, a realization dawning like a Thunderbolt. "Mother…" he whispered, his voice laced with dread and exasperation. Madame Boss, Team Rocket's founder and Giovanni's estranged mother, led a rival faction within the organization.
'She's ruthless enough to pull this off,' he thought, his wine forgotten. 'Frame Petrel, pit Aqua against us, weaken my grip.' The strained relationship between mother and son, already a tangle of power struggles and old grudges, teetered on collapse.
---
Meanwhile Gladion fanned the flames between Team Rocket and Team Aqua even more.
He hummed with satisfaction as he reviewed documents pilfered from Aqua's Moro Island base, detailing their other Indigo outposts: a dockside warehouse in Vermilion, a cave network near Cerulean, a smuggling hub in Fuchsia.
'Jackpot,'he thought, his smirk sly. Like a good citizen—albeit anonymously—he'd leaked the locations to public forums, tipping off the Indigo League and local authorities. The posts, crafted to sound like a whistleblower's rant, were already viral on PokéGram, with hashtags like #AquaExposed trending.
'Aqua really is dumb to keep that information on their base like that. Giovanni is at least more competent than that. Anyways, they would think that Team Rocket is the one releasing this information to the public. This would further strain their relationship.'
"Now let's see, Giovanni, how you wiggle out of this," Gladion muttered,
---Author Notes------
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