Pokemon: Fire and Ice

Chapter 17

"No, no, no..."

Ash's back was pressing firmly against the wall now, but that didn't hold him steady at all. He was trembling madly and his shaky legs threatened to collapse underneath him. His eyes were impossibly wide, but that didn't help his blurry vision.

It just couldn't be... His mother—his mother was the gentlest, fairest, nicest person he knew his entire life. And he didn't think that because she was his mother. How... how could someone like that be a sibling of the world's... Ash's spinning thoughts faltered when a volley of insults zoomed through his mind.  He was so stressed he stumbled, causing Giovanni to lean forward to catch him. Though he paused when Ash suddenly questioned through a mutter, "How?"

His eyes were shadowed and no emotion came from him. Giovanni answered.

"My mother—your grandmother—was the founder of Team Rocket," he explained. "Delia and I were her children. We were raised within the foundations of our mother's organization."

Ash interrupted him. "Mom... was a Rocket?"

Giovanni nodded. "Just like me."

"But you told me you had a starter... that you traveled Kanto.

"Yes. Your mother and I desired to travel around the world. We convinced our mother to let us go on our Pokémon Journeys, a little late of course, but she accepted. We each selected a starter, the same professors offer to trainers. I chose a Squirtle; Delia a Charmander."

Ash tilted his head at that. A young Giovanni with a happy little Squirtle. Harder to believe, his sweet mother with a fierce fire starter. He didn't know what he needed the pictures for: for proof or help him envision it. Then he realized something. Maybe that tiny Squirtle wasn't happy; maybe Mom wasn't sweet. Giovanni went on, drawing Ash out of his thoughts.

"We left, then. Sometimes we traveled together; other times we decided to follow our own path. It would be several years before we finally returned to Team Rocket."

I wouldn't have gone back, Ash thought bitterly. But the fact Giovanni said "we" worried him. His mother was that committed? Instead of voicing it, he asked, "So what happened?"

"We went back to our original lives: being part of Team Rocket under our mother's eye. But this time since we were far older and matured, we were allowed to be sent on missions. We were very skilled and worked hard to please our mother. It went like that for several more years. Though, unfortunately, Mother fell ill. Delia continued her contributions while I took the place of my mother." Giovanni suddenly paused, but went on. "Mother died not long later. As the older sibling, I inherited her business and made it into my own. I made Delia my head executive."

"Mom was an executive?" Ash echoed. He tried to make it a quiet mutter, but Giovanni heard him.

"Yes, a very good one. She gave me advice and helped shape a new Team Rocket."

"New?"

"My mother's organization was mostly black market business. Simple profit. The 'missions' she sent us on were mostly to capture a Pokémon for a soul purpose of a deal or to oversee an exchange. I wanted my Team Rocket to be more."

Suddenly images and information Ash knew about Team Rocket flashed before his eyes. Sounded like his grandmother's Team Rocket was simply a like company, except it was illegal. The current Team Rocket was way more aggressive and cruel.

"You made Team Rocket on how what's it is today," he growled.

Giovanni simply shrugged. Then something hit Ash.

"Wait, Mom helped? She let Team Rocket become evil?"

"She only did because that how close we were. To be honest, Ash, she was never really interested in criminal affairs. It was simply part of her life."