Deep beneath the Silph Co. Building in Saffron City lay the true headquarters of Team Rocket. From here, every order was issued, rippling outward like a spider's web to every Rocket agent across the world.
Most of the time, Giovanni remained here. He was almost like a recluse now, rarely leaving the base. Outside of a handful of top-ranking executives, hardly anyone in Team Rocket even knew his true identity—that he was the hidden Boss pulling every string.
It wasn't that Giovanni lacked ambition or the will to continue leading his empire into the future. The truth was simpler, harsher: his body could no longer keep up with his desires.
"Come in."
Seated beneath heavy black drapes, Giovanni lowered his head, staring long at a photograph in his hand. When the computer screen nearby pinged with a soft chime, he finally placed the photo down with deliberate care and turned his chair around.
Moments later, three Rocket executives entered one after another.
"No need for unnecessary chatter," Giovanni said, voice low but commanding. "Lt. Surge, Koga—you've recovered. Along with Sabrina, continue according to the plan. Three months. At most, we have three months to finish all preparations. Every piece must be in place by then."
"…I've ordered all agents in hiding to gather here in Saffron. From the largest city in Kanto, we will announce to the world—Team Rocket's rebirth."
"Yes, Boss!"
The three bowed in unison. Surge's face was alight with excitement, while Sabrina and Koga's expressions remained cold and distant.
They asked no questions—about the time limit, about the plan's feasibility. They obeyed as though Giovanni's commands were absolute law. But Giovanni, with his razor-sharp insight into human hearts, knew the truth.
They were no longer united.
Surge was unchanged—still the brash, straightforward soldier who rarely thought beyond orders. But Sabrina and Koga had begun to shift. Giovanni could see it in their eyes, in the subtle hesitation that once never existed.
For Sabrina, it began the day he sent her to investigate Mt. Moon. There, she crossed paths with a boy named Logan. Ever since that meeting, she had changed. She who once resembled a lifeless doll—soulless, directionless—had begun to stir with new emotions, new thoughts. She was becoming less like a weapon, more like a person.
And Koga—his transformation was born of fear, of fragility. A ninja who had sworn loyalty to Giovanni as a feudal retainer to a master, Koga once lived without hesitation. But now he feared instability, feared loss. That fear had a name: love. He was shackled by the weight of his bond with another.
Giovanni did not condemn him. He understood. For even he himself was bound by the same weakness—the love of a child. Blood ties, a father's heart.
When the three departed, Giovanni turned his chair back toward the darkness, muttering into the silence:
"…Team Rocket's presence in Johto continues to be eroded. That man—he never reveals his true hand. He's even more elusive than I am. You think I don't know you leaked this report on the Four Elites of Kanto deliberately? That it was your trap all along?"
Giovanni's fingers steepled under his chin as his eyes flickered toward the report on his desk.
He knew it was bait, but it was bait designed as a naked strategy—an open, blatant trap set in full view. Giovanni's true goals had already been exposed. And when a starving man is presented with a poisoned cake, he will still take a bite, knowing it might kill him.
"I didn't want to begin the plan so soon," Giovanni whispered bitterly. "If I had two more years, I could guarantee success. But that man will not give me two years. And now… too many new variables."
He picked up another dossier. A name was stamped on the front: Logan.
"If he is given two years to grow stronger…" Giovanni's voice dropped, heavy. "…then even alone, that boy could bring Team Rocket to ruin."
A smile ghosted across his lips, though it was filled with pain. The irony was too cruel. Team Rocket had created the most powerful artificial weapon—and also its suppressor. Yet the suppressor had been stolen, and the ultimate weapon had turned against its own makers.
Giovanni's greatest talent had always been this: the ability to read people. It was this gift, combined with ruthless effort, that transformed Team Rocket from a shadowy errand-crew for Silph Co. into a vast war machine—one strong enough to threaten even the Pokémon League.
And that same gift told him one thing with absolute certainty: this boy Logan was a threat that could never be bargained with. If left unchecked, two years would be enough to make him a force greater than any weapon Team Rocket had ever known. He had to be destroyed in the cradle—or there would be no future for Rocket.
"…Professor Oak."
Giovanni's voice was tinged with irritation. He knew the failure of the Mewtwo Project was no accident. That kindly old fool of a man, always pretending to be nothing more than an ordinary researcher—he had meddled from the shadows. Giovanni suspected Oak was far more dangerous than anyone realized.
At this moment, there were only two people Giovanni feared. One was Samuel Oak, still residing in Kanto. The other was the nameless shadow manipulating events from Johto, someone who had entwined Team Rocket, the Elite Four, and even the League itself in his palm.
As for the so-called Kanto Elite Four? Giovanni never once took them seriously. Lance was nothing more than a childish dreamer in Giovanni's eyes. With his experience, Giovanni could think of ten thousand ways to make a boy like Lance dance to his tune.
Ten years ago, Giovanni had seen Team Rocket as his life's purpose. But ten years later, he saw it only as a tool—a piece on the board to achieve his true goals.
Whether this gamble succeeded or failed no longer mattered. If it succeeded, Rocket would rise again. If it failed, Giovanni would take the fall himself. Out of respect for his three executives' loyalty all these years, he would carry the sins alone—and grant them the freedom they sought.
Such was the man Giovanni was—ruthless, but commanding, a figure of charisma and tragedy both.
Elsewhere, preparations were moving.
"Sabrina, where are you going?"
Lt. Surge was already mobilizing Rocket's forces for the largest assembly in its history. Koga, who owed Sabrina his life from an earlier incident, questioned her as she turned to leave.
"…"
Her face was expressionless, cold as stone. Without a word, she walked away.
But inside, Sabrina's heart was chaos. She could not forget Logan's words in Lavender Town—about her parents, her family, about who she really was.Saffron was no longer safe. Rocket's preparations no longer mattered. What mattered was protecting her family first.
The boy had been right. She was little more than a child, walking a path laid by others, never her own.
"Damn it…"
She shook her head violently, trying to vanish his image, his voice from her mind. She felt as if she was breaking apart.
Koga only shrugged at her silence. He did not seem surprised or disappointed. When she left, he muttered quietly to himself:
"…Good thing I sent Janine to Johto earlier. I'll find an excuse to keep her there. Kanto's become far too dangerous."
At the very same moment, Logan was training harder than ever—preparing for the greatest challenge of his life since the day he crossed into this world.
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