The Road to our Destiny

Chapter 71

Arceus and Mewtwo haven't left Giovanni's side for days. With the Gieldanstone strapped inside his suit and Mewtwo wearing his headband, the leader of Team Rocket has been staying in his office where Mewtwo and Persian stand next to him, and Arceus can be seen from his window. He has Matori bring him his meals, and he sleeps on the couch next to his desk that Persian usually lies on. Whatever the case, he has never left his office with the two most powerful Pokemon close to him. He just keeps them close like a little child possessive of his favorite toys. Persian, meanwhile, lies next to its master, bored and eager for something to happen besides seeing Giovanni do nothing but sit in his chair and look at the legendary Pokemon with a demonic grin.

As he sits there quietly, a knock is heard on the door.

"Enter," Giovanni says without looking.

The door opens, and Matori enters the room.

"Sir," she greets plainly.

"How close is the machine to being ready?" Giovanni asks with his eyes fixed on Arceus inside.

"Dr. Zager says won't won't be much longer, sir," Matori answers. "Also, I have summoned Jessie, James, and Meowth here."

Giovanni smiles and finally turns his chair around to face Matori.

"Good. Send them in," he says.

"Yes, sir," Matori replies.

The assistant leaves, and before long, Jessie, James, and Meowth enter. The trio grow uneasy at the sight of Mewtwo floating next to their leader like a mindless zombie and Arceus' head frozen like a statue outside. They gulp before they hide their feelings and salute their leader.

"Sir!" They say.

"At ease," Giovanni says plainly. "You are probably wondering why I've summoned you."

"Yes, sir, we are," James admits.

Giovanni nods and says, "I confess this is unusual, but I have a strange feeling that the current information I have is in some way important. Therefore, I feel I must ask a simple question to the three of you."

"Yes?" The trio asks.

Giovanni takes a deep breath and asks, "How powerful is this Ash Ketchum?"

Jessie, James, and Meowth blink a couple of times before they look at each other, unsure of whether or not their leader just asked the question.

"Well?" Giovanni asks, impatiently.

"Uh...well, powerful enough that he and his friends have stopped every plan we've had with stealing Pokemon," Jessie admits. "Ultimately, if the twerp and his companions didn't keep finding ways to get stronger and smarter, we would have given hundreds of Pokemon by now."

"So you say," Giovanni says unimpressed. "But then again, you three have been known to be clumsy at best on certain missions before."

"But we've had been successful when da twerp ain't around," Meowth protests. "I mean, we were pretty successful during our part in the operation in the Unova League with Dr. Zager, and things were going great until we took the twerp with us along with Meloetta."

Giovanni thinks carefully and bluntly says, "This is true. Continue."

The trio thinks about what else to say until James decides to speak.

"Well, like we said before, his Pikachu is very powerful," he says. "It is even responsible for not only so many of our plans getting foiled but several other Team Rocket operations. Including ones at the S.S. Anne and one of Butch and Cassidy's schemes at Sable City."