Chasing After A Legend

Family Matters

"Human talking"

'Human thinking'

"Talking in a Flashback/Memory"

"Pokémon talking"

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"Enter."

A bespectacled, dark purple-haired young lady dressed in a maroon business suit opened and walked through the door to face Giovanni behind his desk. Closing the door behind her, she bowed in respect to her commander-in-chief. "Good day, Mr. Giovanni."

The Team Rocket boss nodded to his secretary. "I trust that you bring good news, Matori."

"Indeed," she replied. "The Matori Matrix has discovered the identities of the plants in Team Rocket that have been feeding information to our enemies. We've captured and secured them in our Johto base of regional operations. After a bit of torture, we have discovered quite a few tidbits about the group that's conspiring against us – tidbits that I believe you will find most fascinating."

"Oh?" Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "Sounds promising. I trust that this is not merely an exaggeration for you to win my favor over your three compatriots."

Matori twitched slightly but never lost the composed tone in her voice as she replied, "Of course not, sir." And she was happy to say that she was telling the truth. Before, she had been irked that the special assignment of obtaining Professor Oak's entire Pokémon database had fallen to the less-than-adequate trio of Jessie and her two stooges. And even though she managed to control herself at the time, when she found out that they had somehow succeeded in their mission, she was secretly fuming in jealousy. Although Matori would never give Jessie the satisfaction of seeing it, she harbored intense resentment for the magenta-haired low-ranking Rocket operative. That was why she and her special unit worked especially hard on finding the rats that dared to leak classified information to some ragtag group of vigilantes for months on end.

"Good, good." Giovanni nodded his approval. "Then you may explain..."

Matori began to open her mouth.

"... to our colleagues," Giovanni finished.

Matori blinked. "Colleagues, Mr. Giovanni...? Surely you don't mean..."

"Oh, but I do," the Rocket Boss smirked as he pulled out a remote from his shirt pocket. "In fact, I believe it's long overdue that you, as my personal secretary, speak to our accomplices. After all, if Team Rainbow Rocket is to succeed, collaboration between all members, regardless of rank or prestige, is key."

"As..." Matori was taken aback, but quickly pulled herself together. "As you say, Mr. Giovanni. It would be my honor to report the Matori Matrix's progress to your allies."

"I'm sure." Giovanni pressed a button on the remote he was holding, and the screen he had been using for his meetings descended from the ceiling. "Proceed with contact."

The secretary couldn't help but gulp when tinier screens filled with static appeared. 'Okay... Just relax.' Matori tried calming herself. 'This is what you aspire to do one day, anyway. It's just... come sooner than expected, that's all.' She straightened up and returned to her neutral expression. 'If anything, talking to some strangers over video conversation is much easier than talking directly to Mr. Giovanni. Nothing to worry about...'

"Oh?" A woman with long, dark hair dressed in a bright red business suit suddenly appeared on the screen, bringing Matori to full attention. "And who is this young woman? Giovanni, don't tell me you found yourself another mistress. And such a young one, too..."