Pokemon: Fire and Ice

Chapter 18

A few hours later Giovanni was in his office once again. The crime lord was forced to dig up a lot of buried memories in his conversation with Ash, actually causing quite a stir of emotion within him, but tossed them aside the second he stepped out of the room. He had no time to worry about the past—what was done was done. But he couldn't escape past events just yet: after he left Ash, he was able to pull up the boy's records and also multiple Team Rocket reports. He wanted to learn about his nephew and how he had affected his syndicate.

The man was able to find exciting discoveries about his nephew, such as an endless list of accomplishments and recommendations. He didn't have time to research them all. But as for how the boy related to Team Rocket... was not pleasing at all. Dozens of operations the brat ruined. And not just simple, pathetic missions—operations that would have changed the fate of Team Rocket. If that wasn't aggravating enough, after looking up some more reports, Giovanni found out that Ash had a habit of mocking field agents that had little to do with him.

The crime boss almost broke his delicate drinking glass from his deadly grip in rage. The boy had no respect for Team Rocket... Team Rocket's only heir spends more of his time destroying it than anything else. Little brat... Giovanni would change that. Suddenly a beep from his desk phone interrupted his thoughts.

"Mr. Giovanni, sir?" his secretary, Matori, called.

"What is it?" he sighed.

"I have Dr. Zager on the line."

"Humph. Patch him through."

"Yes, sir."

Matori's voice disappeared and was replaced with a couple more beeps as the line was transferred. There was a moment of silence before a raspy, old voice called out.

"Zager, here," the scientist announced.

"Ah, Dr. Zager," Giovanni greeted formally, but fought the urge to roll his eyes at the overuse of his name. "I believe you have a good reason for calling me?"

The question was formal and cheery, though both understood it was actually a threat in disguise. This better be the most important phone call of your life... or else.

"Oh, yes," Dr. Zager assured excitingly. His tone was the same as Giovanni's. "I would like to inform you that excavation in the Desert Resort has been completed."

Giovanni raised his eyebrows. "You mean the Meteonite?"

"Indeed. It's within a large temple that was heavily buried. We completely unearthed it and even set up base inside. Your forces are standing by for further orders."

Suddenly Giovanni smiled, his lips spreading ear-to-ear. He looked back and forth between his phone and his computer before finally training his gaze on the computer screen. On it was his nephew's file, with Ash's picture dominating most of the screen. Giovanni snickered evilly.

"I think I found out what to do with you, Ashton."

***

"Ash has really been kidnapped?"

Iris, Cilan, and Reshiram nodded solemnly. Ingo shook his head in disbelief and turned to his brother, Emmet. The twins looked exactly alike even though they were around their late thirties. They even had matching outfits that was a mixture of a businessman and a conductor's attire, save for the dominant colors. Emmet wore white while Ingo wore black. Emmet was ignoring his sibling as he was hunched over a control panel, rapidly typing.

They were in the subway system's control room. The walls were covered with large screens showing various activities happening across the subway and Nimbasa City. Dozens of control panels crammed the room with the main one in the center.