章 9: Payback

The city of Viridian was often known as the final stop for those taking the Pokemon League challenge, usually because the city itself was considered the gateway to the Pokemon League itself. What people did not know, was that under the Gym itself existed a large underground facility that the League did not know about.

Within said facility were dozens of workers consisting mostly of scientists, while a few select individuals were the higher ups of the organization based there. Several of which were standing around the man who sat atop the entire organization, a cream colored Persian nuzzling against his hand as they watched numerous monitors that were broadcasting different news channels.

"Excellent..." The seated man practically purred as nearly every broadcast stated the same thing, that Samuel Oak was decrepit old man who had lost his edge, and was a danger to himself and others.

"Sir..." One of the executives standing near the man asked hesitantly, to which he waved his fingers to give them permission to speak.

"If I may sir, why the focus on professor Oak? Isn't he just an old man?" The man, Giovanni, directed a sharp look at the executive as he slowly parroted,

"'Just an old man'?" As Giovanni spoke his Persian began to stalk threateningly towards the executive, making him slowly back up fearfully as Giovanni continued,

"That 'old man' is among, if not THE strongest Champion Kanto ever had. Even when the current Champion Lance challenged him, he wasn't able to defeat a single one of Samuel Oak's Pokemon." As Giovanni briefly trailed off the Persian began to pace back and forth before the admin, a predatory gleam in its eye as it awaited its master's order. Seemingly uncaring about this, Giovanni continued so not only this admin, but the rest as well, knew how important this mission was.

"And if there's one thing Oak excels at more than anything, it's finding and nurturing talent. Fifteen years ago two boys were sponsored by professor Oak as they challenged the Pokemon League, and they shattered every record possible before moving on to defeat the entire Elite Four, and then Lance himself within a matter of hours.

"The second boy was so much a monster, that after he defeated Lance he went and defeated the one who took the Champion title from him a mere few hours prior, professor Oak's own son. And now professor Oak is nurturing trainers for the first time since then, one of which is his own grandson, and another who took on an entire pack of Houndour being led by a Houndoom without a single Pokemon, and lived to tell the tale."

There was significantly more Giovanni didn't say, such as the power of professor Oak's Dragonite that he had witnessed himself, along with the fact that Ace Ketchum was now paired with Riolu, which were famous for their noble and righteous nature. But as his Persian started flexing its claws intimidatingly, he felt he didn't need to say it.

The plan was to discredit and alienate professor Oak by arranging for the assistants of his two closest friends, the professors Birch and Rowen, to meet an untimely end. Not only would his own friends blame him for their deaths, but Oak would also face severe backlash from the populace as he lost all credibility and prestige.

However one of the same brats that Oak was rearing intervened, sacrificing himself to ensure the two girls got to safety, while also having the gall to refuse to die himself. While Giovanni had undoubtedly saved his life with his helicopter, he had doubted the boy was even still alive when he offered its use at the time.

Now none of the three they tried to kill were dead, but Team Rocket wasn't without resources and plots.

It had been a simple matter for them to direct the way the stories being broadcasted and reported were told, after all, the media loved a good story, regardless of if it was true or not. And they were running with it with everything they could since, if there was one thing the media loved more than a good story, it was a story that tore down an important or powerful figure.

So, despite the executive's stupidity, Giovanni had a smirk on his face as he watched the numerous news broadcasts slander the esteemed professor. Also adding fuel to the flames were the testimonies of those who used to work for professor Oak, and were telling their own stories about injuries they had obtained on the job.

Not every single story was 'true' of course, but the media didn't need to know that, nor would they care.

Then professor Oak himself finally made his appearance, after having waited until Ace Ketchum awakened before answering any questions, and Giovanni sat up as he eagerly awaited what was about to happen next.

"Good afternoon everyone. I am-"

*CRASH!*

A sudden commotion behind professor Oak suddenly drew every eye and camera, showing them all the metal and glass hospital doors laying on the ground, warped and twisted, while the one who did it stood in the doorway of the hospital.

"Wassup bitches and knob bobbers!? My name is Ace Ketchum!" Shouted the young man who had been comatose just a few hours prior, his right leg and left arm bound in casts, with numerous bandages on his body, and wearing nothing but a hospital gown.

"Ri!" Shouted the little Pokemon at his side, the Riolu that Giovanni knew had paired with the young man.

Together the duo ignored everyone's stunned expressions as Ace hobbled up to the podium that professor Oak was at, and said,

"Thanks for the intro professor, but I'll take it from here." Ace told Oak as he took his place, leaving no room for argument as the Riolu leapt up to sit right in front of the microphones.

"Mister Ketchum! Are you going to demand any kind of compensation from professor Oak for your injuries!?" One of the reporters suddenly asked, opening the floodgates as all the others tried to ask their questions as well, while refusing to give the young man time to answer or saying anything.

"ENOUGH!" He eventually roared at them with what seemed like unnatural force, making everyone go silent as they stared in awe of Ace's glowing amber eyes.

Either not knowing or not caring about his eyes, Ace then cleared his throat before saying,

"Now then, as I said before I am Ace Ketchum. And what I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted, is that I am NOT here to answer questions. I came to you all today, to tell everyone a story.

"Once upon a time there was a dashingly handsome young man who was trying to woo two young ladies, and so the young man took them to see some of his favorite places in what should have a perfectly safe forest. After some clandestine fun the young man began to return home with the two beautiful flowers, when an eerie silence descended upon the woods.

"The next thing they knew, the three lovers found themselves confronted by three menacing Houndour, Houndour that AREN'T supposed to be found in Kanto. So that makes me wonder, if you can't find Houndour in Kanto, and the good professor doesn't have any that he's currently studying, then HOW did they get there? Did some irresponsible trainer let them go? Or did some group release them on purpose with malicious intent?

"Well whatever the reason, our hero and his lovely girlfriends fled from the Houndour as fast as they possibly could, until it was apparent that the three Pokemon were gaining on them. So our hero made the decision to face the three Houndour alone, giving his ladies time to escape. Except, when he turned to face them, the three Houndour completely ignored him, focusing entirely on the two girls. Now THAT seems weird to me, cause why would the Houndour focus only on them, unless they were being specifically targeted by whoever put them there to begin with?

"And now you may be asking yourselves, 'who would release Houndour to try and kill a couple of girls?' Well, after our hero managed to get them to focus on him, and give the girls time to escape, three more Houndour appeared with a Houndoom leading the pack, a Houndoom that had a collar around its neck with a box on it. And on that box was big red R, with the words inscribed next to it saying 'Property of Team Rocket'."

At this point Ace paused to let what he'd said sink in, as his story painted a very different image than the one the reporters and news stations were after, it painted the image of a group that tried to murder two girls from the shadows rather than the carelessness of an old man. Not only that, it created numerous questions in the minds of everyone present, and everyone watching the live broadcast.

Who is Team Rocket?

Why would they want to kill two girls?

Those questions echoed over and over in everyone's minds, except for a certain group.

"DAMN IT!" Giovanni shouted as he grabbed the stand with a bottle of wine next to him and threw it against the wall, causing the executives and admins around him to flinch since they'd never seen the boss lose his cool.

But then it only got worse as Ace continued,

"And not only that, I was told that many of you were already waiting at the hospital when we arrived immediately after the attack. Now how would you all already know about the attack unless someone purposely leaked the information? Someone who wanted to drag professor Oak's name through the mud?"

Ace's words caused several of the reporters to shuffle awkwardly as they realized the truth in his words, until one asked him, "And where is your evidence of all this?"

Despite saying that he wasn't going to answer questions, Ace replied, "we don't have any unfortunately. When he heard I was in trouble professor Oak immediately sent his strongest Pokemon to help, and apparently Dragonite wasn't too interested in holding back."

Giovanni calmed down slightly when he heard that there was no evidence about Ace's claims, but his relief didn't last long as Ace continued,

"That being said, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to both professor Oak, who acted immediately to help me by sending Dragonite, and mr. Giovanni of the Viridian city Gym, who volunteered his own helicopter to bring me to the hospital as soon as possible. But his aid didn't stop there..."

Giovanni looked up at the screen in alarm, as he never said anything about helping Ace any more than taking him to the hospital. Ace however appeared choked up as he wiped away a tear from his eye, and continued,

"Mr. Giovanni not only brought me to the hospital to receive the care that saved my life, but last night when I first woke he said to me, 'young man, your selfless actions are an inspiration for prospective trainers everywhere. That's why I want to pay for all of the treatments you receive during your stay at the hospital, but that's not all...'"

Again Ace appeared choked up as the little Riolu seemed to comfort him, before he continued, "Mr. Giovanni...also swore to grant me 20 million Pokedollars to put towards my journey...(A.N. About 155,000 USD) Which will ensure I can take the best care of my Pokemon possible as we travel..."

By this point Ace Ketchum seemed to break down as if overcome with emotion, while Giovanni was just gaping at the monitor incredulously.

"I-is this BRAT really extorting ME!?!?!?!" He demanded with an increasing fury, while even the present executives and admins were completely stunned at the development.

While of course Giovanni hadn't made such a stupid promise, if he didn't pay then people would wonder why not, and him saying that Ace made it up would hurt his public image quite a bit. After all, while he was running the biggest criminal organization in Kanto, Giovanni's public image as that of a wealthy and charitable philanthropist.

But Ace didn't stop there, as he added with a voice full of emotion,

"And don't worry mr. Giovanni, I'll take your secret relationship with Lieutenant Surge to the grave!" That seemed to have been the final straw, as Giovanni flew into a rage as he threw anything and everything within reach, all while swearing up a storm.

"S-sir..." One of the attendants hesitantly said, making Giovanni whirl around to face him as he snarled,

"WHAT!?"

The attendant gulped anxiously as he fought the urge to flee, and uttered, "T-theres a c-call from e-executive Surge for y-"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Giovanni roared with fury as he grabbed whatever happened to be nearest, and began to beat the attendant over the head with it until there was no life left in his body.

Thankfully for him the act of brutally killing one of his subordinates was fairly therapeutic for Giovanni, and helped clear his head a bit before one of the admins, a man named Archer, asked,

"Sir, should one of us go to eliminate Ace Ketchum? The numerous insults aside, he has also revealed our presence to the world before we were ready, and he undid all of our efforts to disgrace Samuel Oak." Surprisingly, Giovanni shook his head as he said in a calmer voice,

"No, that's exactly why we can't touch him. Right now there's no real evidence of our existence, but if we target him in any way then it just proves everything he said. No one touches Ace Ketchum for now." As he said that another plan formed in Giovanni's mind, for which he exited the room without another word.

He then moved purposely through the halls of the facility until he arrived at one of their main labs, which was full of numerous scientists under his employ that were studying the figure that was currently floating in a tank. Within it was none other than Giovanni's 'daughter' Giana, completely bereft of clothing as numerous machines analyzed her condition.

"Sir! Everything regarding the subject appears normal, even with the changes going through her body as a result of her going through puberty. There's no signs of destabilization." Giovanni nodded absentmindedly as he barely heard what the scientist said, before he hit the button to drain the tank.

The moment the liquid within it began to drain Giana opened her eyes, an unusual calmness within them at her current situation. And even when the tank drained entirely and she stepped out, there was no concern at her current state of undress, only an alertness as she looked upon her 'creator'.

"What do you need 'father'?" She asked, knowing he wouldn't be here if there wasn't something he needed from her.

"I want you to bring something to Ace Ketchum, and take Sabrina with you." Giana nodded in affirmation before turning to wash up and dress to go into public.