- Soul of Steel -

Chapter 12: Man of Steel

- - - - - Galar - - - - -

- - - - - The night after Haru's Pokemon were taken - - - - -

- - - - - ? - - - - -

Somewhere in a dimly lit room, a man was sitting at his computer idly typing into a command prompt to log into a deep web server. Booting up the 'VM', which stood for 'Virtual Machine', a whole different server appears on the dual monitor setup. Nearby, evidence of him dumping into the trash some perishables he had been meaning to get rid of, and a checklist of Pokemon with 'x's crossing off over each one. Whether it was for collections sake, one couldn't tell. Before getting to one specific location while on this sub-genre of the interconnected network, the man takes a second to close all the blinds and put up the black towels he put around the windows to further insulate all light from coming inwards.

He receives what sounds like an imitation of a phone call tone, and returns to the office chair before taking the hat off from his head to let his buzzcut red hair stick up freely. A tap on the keyboard initiates the call to be answered, and he was met with a familiar visage. As the large video window was displayed on a screen, Giovanni was seen calmly stroking the head of a Persian that sat next to him.

"Boss, the deed is done."

Giovanni looks pleased, and speaks straight to the point. "You took them all out?"

"All of them. There won't be any way for them to tie this to me, or you. It took me a bit since the Pokemon were all excellently trained, but I managed. Nothing I couldn't do within the span of under half an hour. The Pokemon you sent me may not exactly be the 'real deal' as you say, but they are certainly just as powerful!"

The boss of Team Rocket switched up the position of which his legs crossed. "Of course they are; I made sure of it. You have that girl to thank however for this process being sped up, if even a little. However, for now that is all I shall require of you."

Taking a drink from the beer bottle that sat near him on the desk, the man inquired with some hesitation and confusion. "May I ask, why did you ask of me to do this again? Not that I mind: he had it coming."

None too amused, Giovanni repeated himself; a task he hated doing. "As you're well aware, the one you know as the Gym Challenger named Syra has been working for me on another mission entirely unrelated to your own. She's someone who has proven very reliable for me. However...several things have occurred since her employment that have been...sloppy. Outside of one such incident, I'm not sure I can count on her anymore. With what's been going on, he may find out about my plans."

"You mean, Haru, sir? I suppose it doesn't help matters that there was a rabid stalker that tried to kill him wearing a bootleg of our outfits either. Then again, nobody at large truly believes the crazed lunatic anyway, and he's doing time."

Giovanni stands up as the camera follows his movement, with the gentleman pacing to one part of the office. At this point it was noticeable that whatever damage Syra did in the process of invading his HQ was repaired by now. "He was going to get in my way sooner or later, since there's audio that you captured where he was speaking to a man from Johto. Their ex-Champion seems to be onto me, but when you came to us and suggested a way to throw him off his game, opening the doorway to Syra succeeding in her mission to become Champion, ergo giving us more leverage and for Team Rocket to blast off once again...in Galar of all regions...my, well I had a tear in one of my eyes that moment."

The man leaned forward as one of the lights in his room that was on lit up part of his face, showing him to be a well built man with red hair in the form of a buzzcut, wearing camo pants. "Pleasure doing business with you. For now, I'll just keep that Lapras you bestowed me as payment."