Chapter 11- Team Rocket's True Purpose 1/2

Right in his palm are two brightly coloured stones.

Charizardite Y and Pidgeotite

These are rare mega stones even for the Indigo League. To think that these stones are now in his hands is a little too surreal for him. Even he himself is seeing these stones for the first time. When he had given the order to attack Johto National Park, all he was expecting is for his subordinates to do something better than Team Aqua.

He wasn't to get something else on top of it.

Not only that, all objectives of the mission parameters had been met spectacularly. Fear had not only been driven into the hearts of Indigo's citizens, but into the ruling body of the Indigo itself. He was there during the Thirteen Pillars emergency meeting. He knows.

The Rocket's Exterminator is truly dangerous. Plague is one of his best members. He's like a sheathed dagger. Dangerous when sheathed and carried around, but absolutely lethal when drawn.

He had proved himself to be one of Team Rocket's most valuable assets. Someone of his skill and experience is priceless within the organisation.

"Even after hearing how he had done it, I still want to see for myself how it was done." Giovanni spoke in amusement as Archer stood at the other end of the room at attention. Giovanni himself is still admiring the mega stones. "Too bad all security footages were erased."

"Elite Officer Plague is one of a kind, Sir." Archer spoke up. "It's not just me. I'm sure Ariana had already told you about how impressed she is of him. Petrel is his direct superior, he also has many good things to say about him. "

"And Proton?"

"Proton and Plague didn't have many opportunities to work together, I'm afraid. Proton doesn't really know Plague all that well, but seeing from their few interactions how Proton didn't try to maim Plague on sight, I guess Plague left a good impression on him in the few times they met."

"I've been thinking of promoting him to Executive for a while now." Giovanni admitted as he sat down in the office chair, leaning comfortably on it. "He passed my test with flying colours too when I approached him undercover."

"I didn't know you had already met him personally, Sir."

"I was curious about him, especially when I found out just how he earned the title of Exterminator." Giovanni said as his mind went back to that snowy night at Viridian. "He still felt regret for killing his partner, which is understandable considering that they were probably lovers, but his loyalty is undoubtedly with us. His skills at maintaining cover without raising any suspicions even when a supposed Gym Leader confronted him out of the blue is worthy of praise."

"Does he believe in our organisation's true ideals, Sir?"

Giovanni closed his eyes as a faint smirk appeared on his face. He can still remember Plague's answer to his hidden question. The most important question of his test.

"You aren't wrong. I think that way too."

"He does. There is a reason why Ariana and I chose all three of you to be our Executives, Archer. You know this. It's because we are Kantonians. It's because all of us had suffered under the hands of the Johto administration in one way or the other. Kanto is our homeland and only we will know what is best for her and her people. Only we can protect Kanto from Indigo, who are made up of our Johtonian oppressors."

"If my memory serves me right, Plague is a Kantonian as well. More specifically, he's-"

"From Viridian. Like me." Giovanni completed Archer's sentence as he opened his eyes once more, a knowing smirk on his face. "I had already heard Ariana's and Petrel's opinions on this, but what do you think about having another Executive join our ranks, Archer?"

"For one, I'm hoping that my workload will lessen if he joins us. I don't think Proton will disagree with me."

Giovanni let out a brief chuckle at Archer's honest words. Once the laughter left him, his voice turned serious once more.

"What about Plague's condition? How long more can he last?"

"Petrel and I are having the doctors and scientists working on a cure ASAP, Sir. We know just how invaluable Plague is to us and the fact is, he is our precious comrade and friend. The scientists are still baffled at what is… plaguing him, but they suspect that Mega Evolution may really be the reason." Archer reported dutifully to the leader that he had sworn his loyalty to. "They theorised that Plague must have overused its powers in the countless missions he had been assigned to complete, and it somehow backfired on him instead of his pokemon."

"Had he ever go past the five minutes safety guideline?"

"No, at least none as far as we are aware of. The scientists suspect that it might be the frequency of usage rather than the duration of the usage that is the cause of this unexpected illness, Sir. There is no one we know in the organisation that uses Mega Evolution as often as him. I personally think that this is because he had been sent on too many dangerous missions. We relied on him too much because there were many missions in our organisation that only he can do as our Exterminator. Also, Plague's condition had relapsed after the last mission, Sir. I had given him strict orders to take two weeks of medical rest and lay low."

"In that case, do me a favour and help remind the rest of the Executives to only use Mega Evolution when strictly needed. I don't want to lose any of you because of this unknown phenomenon. I will have Plague lay low for the next six months. You tell the scientists and doctors to use this time to hurry and stabilise his condition. I will personally reassign him to that hideout during this period. He can rest properly there while helping me to guard that thing. Plague needs to stay hidden. He is too good. He had completed his mission so well that now Morty and Falkner are hunting for him. Even Karen is interested in his abilities as a fellow Dark Specialist. We will have Plague disappear off the grid until we need him again." Giovanni instructed as he crossed his fingers. "The rest of you can easily continue what he started from here. There won't be another need for an attack as massive as the one on the park, just do some small scale attacks every now and then to constantly remind Johto that we are still around. It's always the unseen and unknown that creates fear in people's hearts, remember that and you will do well."

"Yes, Sir. Anything else?"

"Prepare a new set of Executive uniform, and also arrange a time for me to meet your newest colleague. I will personally give him his new assignment then." Giovanni stood up from the chair as he walked out of his office, Archer following him from behind.

"It's time I officially meet the Rocket's Exterminator as the leader of Team Rocket."

My heist worked.

The Charizardite Y and Pidgeotite I stole, on top of the exemplary results the attack on the National Park had achieved had made Giovanni very, very happy.

I am now Executive Plague of Team Rocket, and right now, I am finally granted a meeting with the true leader of this organisation face-to-face.

"Surprised?"

"Yes, Sir." I replied, making sure to display the hidden surprise on my face. "I suspect that our initial meeting was not coincidental, but I wasn't… expecting this."

"I wasn't lying when I said that I'm sure that a good man like you will undoubtedly go far in your career no matter what path you choose." Giovanni replied with a confident smirk, hands in his pockets. "That uniform looks good on you, Executive Plague."

"Thank you, Sir."

I nodded a reply as I tried my best to not show any hints of emotion on my face. Giovanni looked back at me with a grin, one that unsettled even me.

This is Giovanni, the leader of the largest criminal organisation in Kanto and Johto. He is also currently one of the strongest trainers walking around. He is the Gym Leader of Viridian. He is supposedly the strongest Gym Leader in Kanto and was once a member of Kanto's Elite Four in his youth.

One look and I know that he is out of my league. If I want to bring him down, a head-on battle will never work.

"Even way before I met you, I had heard many good things about you, Plague, especially from Petrel and Ariana." Giovanni continued to speak lazily as he turned around to look at the scene behind him. We are currently at the roof of a tall building in Saffron overlooking the entire city. On paper, this building belongs to an investment holding company that had no traces of getting itself involved in criminal activity. In reality, it belongs to Team Rocket.

"I asked you a similar question the first time we met. I will ask you again. Tell me, what do you think of the state of Kanto?"

"It is a land that looks peaceful on the outside but filled with strife and impoverishment on the inside." I spoke neutrally as my mind began to run through the list of possibilities of what Giovanni really wants to hear from me. I am already somewhat confident in my suspicions thanks to the digging I had done after our first encounter, but one can never be too sure when dealing with someone like Giovanni.

I continue to explain my answer.

"The situation is improving, but another big event is all it needs to break the fragile peace. There are always loopholes in the legal system, one that our organisation exploited to get to where we are today. Food and agricultural produces in Kanto are scarce and our economy had never managed to do well enough to sustain us as a whole. The rich just get richer while the poor get poorer. Because of that, Kanto has the largest economic inequality as compared to the other regions. But that is our advantage. Because people cannot find jobs, they are willing to join us in desperation. Because they have no homes to return to and nothing else to lose, they turn to us to keep their stomachs filled and to have a roof over their heads. It's how we secured our members' loyalty, by promising our members that they can not only survive, but also have the chance to flourish so long as they work for us."

"Splendid observation, Plague! Just what I expected from my Executive!" Giovanni turned back around to praise me with a large smile on his face. "You are an Executive now, so there are some things that you need to know if you work under me as one. Humour me once more, what do you know of what I did before I became the Gym Leader of Viridian?"

"That you were once a member of Indigo's Elite Four, Sir." I stated matter-of-factly. "There wasn't much record left of what you did as a member of the Elite Four and I wasn't born yet at that time, so I don't know much of what you really did other than hearing some of your exploits through word of mouth. You stepped down to become the Gym Leader of Viridian at the same time Professor Samuel Oak stepped down as Indigo Champion. If my memory serves me right, Blaine was also an Elite Four member. He did the same thing you did and became the Gym Leader of Cinnabar in that same period."

"Kain." Giovanni sneered in hostility the moment the current Indigo President was mentioned. "That good for nothing, self-centred bastard. He promised. He promised to solve the problems in Kanto, to help lift the region from poverty. He did nothing."

I don't know what Kain did to Giovanni, but our opinions of Kain is at least one thing that we can agree on. We can be best buds just from this alone.

The main difference between the Indigo League and the Indigo Government is that one is in-charge of pokemon-related affairs and the other is not. The Indigo President that heads the Indigo Government and the Indigo Champion that leads the Indigo League do not cross with each other unless necessary because their duties are separated from each other. They do not interfere in each other's affairs unless strictly necessary and it is a system that the other regions adopt as well.

But Kain meddled in everything. His reach is so vast that there are many things about the Indigo League that even Lance himself does not know, but Kain knows. The secret facility that houses the prehistoric pokemon was one of them, even if I only found that out much later. Lance knew nothing about it when something like that was supposed to be under his jurisdiction. It's all because of Kain's secret meddling. He is an absolute control freak that wants to control everything because he trusts no one but himself.

I knew Giovanni was an Elite Four member more than twenty years ago. He was still young back then, a young promising trainer that swiftly climbed his way up as a member of Kanto's Elite Four. But sometime after he became a member of Kanto's Elite Four, Giovanni had stepped down for reasons unknown, although many suspected that it was a power play to replace the Kantonian Elites with Johto trainers, maintaining the ratio of 1:1 for Kanto and Johto Elite trainers in Indigo to keep the harmony between regions, portraying the image that there are no biases in Indigo's politics. That they are equal.

I only found out more about the regional difference after much digging. Officially, Kanto and Johto may be two regions but are considered as one and the same. There aren't supposed to be much discrimination or hostility. At least on paper, everyone is given a fair chance to try and strive for their dreams no matter the region that they came from.

In reality, the differences are always there no matter how small it is. Sure, it is a lot better than when Indigo was first founded, but there will always be some lingering animosity and distrust from both sides towards each other for many reasons. It is a delicate topic for the League to handle and also an extremely volatile one. Just look at the Kanto ban Senator Langley had brought up. The effects of simply bringing that topic up is already beginning to spill over the entire Indigo. Giovanni is really a master at causing dissent and chaos.

I just don't know to what extent is Giovanni interested about the concealed distrust between Kantonians and Johtonians.

The divide in Indigo is troubling, and it is not uncommon for third party groups to spring up every now and then, championing for their region's rights or to even campaign for the separation of their region from Indigo. The Indigo League and the Indigo Government had always been swift in suppressing such groups to maintain the delicate peace. Over time, people had learnt to not voice their opinions out loud, but that doesn't mean that their sentiments had subsided.

Johto is a land with much more resources. Unlike Kanto, their lands are fertile. Johto's lands are also not dotted with numerous unscalable terrains that made travelling from point A to point B difficult, a problem that the Kanto region has that severely hindered its economic development. Johto had always been the richer region because of that, and the League always have to direct a sizable amount of resources from Johto to Kanto to help keep the region afloat, especially when it comes to the food problem that Kanto always face.

Obviously, there are Johtonians who are not pleased with the arrangement. Remember the mess that resulted simply by bringing up the Kanto ban? The resentment didn't build up over a few days, it had been accumulating for centuries. On Kanto's end, they had always accused Johto of exploiting or oppressing them especially when it comes to the topic of the usage of Kanto's vast deposits of the rare minerals and stones. Kantonians accused Johto for depriving Kantonians of work opportunities and economic benefits that might lift Kanto out of poverty. Johto accuse Kanto of constantly leeching off them. There are many more arguments of who exploits who and each of them are doing a fantastic job in painting themselves as the victim.

Honestly? I couldn't bring myself to care unless it affects my plans.

While the number of dissenters is by no means small, most of Kanto and Johto citizens worked relatively well with each other. Our shared history and geographical location meant that our regions will always be closely entwined with each other whether we like it or not. The only reason why there is so much dissent and mistrust are because the politicians of the old are corrupt shits that mainly consists of Johtonians. The current politicians of now that made up the Indigo Government are useless in resolving conflicts, or simply not interested to make Indigo a better place to live in because they themselves are not affected by it.

It's all about politics and self-serving interests.

There are other politicians from other political parties that could have better solved this issue but the current one that made up most of Indigo's Parliament are too reluctant to let go of the power they currently hold. It doesn't help that the Indigo Government used to have a number of corrupt Johtonian politicians in their ranks that exploited Kanto for their own benefits, although that issue is in the process of being rectified from how Kain is weeding such politicians hiding in his Parliament.

In my opinion, the process is still too slow because Kain stubbornly insists on doing everything by himself. He doesn't trust anybody else to do the job for him when they clearly can. He really could have just delegated his work to someone else. That man is more stubborn, egoistic, distrustful, and paranoid than anything else that I have ever seen in both my lives.

In any case, it still doesn't change the fact that Kanto's citizens suffered.

The Indigo League is doing fine when it comes to handling pokemon related affairs, but the same cannot be said for the Indigo Government and the duties they are entrusted with. It is also because of the ineptitude of the current Indigo Government that Team Rocket was able to flourish. Team Rocket grew from the cracks in the laws that were placed, exploiting legal loopholes, preying on children and adults that had nowhere to go and desperate for help, help that the Indigo Government should have given.

Now, keep in mind of the situation that I had just explained and think about this: What happens when your own government, the ones who are supposed to be your protector, failed to give such help and another party gave it to you instead?

Team Rocket provided such help, and it was how they managed to be the King of the Underworld in Indigo and secured the loyalty of many of Kanto's desperate masses. In fact, considering the number of legal businesses Team Rocket secretly owns, I have no choice but to admit that Team Rocket is actually crucial in supporting Kanto's economy. If all of Team Rocket's secret legal businesses falls in a single day, Kanto will be doomed. Many Kantonian grunts in Team Rocket are extremely loyal to their cause because to them, Team Rocket are their saviours. Not the Indigo.

I'm starting to think that Team Rocket is simply more than just a terrorist organisation. With how active they are in genuinely developing Kanto's economy and providing honest jobs to jobless people, I'm suspecting that Giovanni is more in favour of helping Kanto than in destroying it. Many of the employees of Team Rocket's secret legal businesses don't even know that they are actually working for Team Rocket, which make things more complicated for me. What would happen to Kanto when everything is brought to light and they lose their jobs?

Disaster will strike, that's what.

Assuming that Giovanni sincerely wants Team Rocket to help improve Kanto's economy, I just don't know why he chose to use the facade of a terrorist organisation. He is a Gym Leader, a person of power and influence. Surely there are better ways than to set up Team Rocket to achieve this?

Now that I am looking at the entire situation from a new perspective, I also have no idea why the Indigo Government always assume that they made the correct decisions. Terrorists acts aside, look at what Giovanni achieved for Kanto as compared to what Kain had done. Over the years since the organisation's founding, Giovanni's Team Rocket had single handedly generated more than 50% of the jobs currently available in the region as compared to what Kain had done. It somehow reminds me of when I had told Kain many times so many years back that Marowak Skull has to be allowed to continue to survive in Kanto if we were to delay Team Rocket's rise to power. Only Marowak Skull had the ability to keep Team Rocket in check when the police force in Kanto were still too incapable to do anything about this issue.

Kain didn't listen, and told me to continue playing my role as a double agent. Because I was not allowed to sabotage Team Rocket's plans to increase their influence, I had no other choice than to follow Team Rocket's orders and wipe out Marowak Skull. I was proven right when Team Rocket's influence expanded aggressively just a short few months after Marowak Skull's disbandment. Kain is still adamant that he made the correct choice despite the results showing otherwise.

On the bright side, jobs in Fuschia suddenly sprung up in many places the moment Marowak Skull was gone, so it wasn't entirely a bad thing for the people. Homeless people suddenly had homes to stay and jobs to work in, something which I had missed previously because I was so engrossed in revenge.

I am this close to beyond caring about my spy mission at this point. The only reason I haven't tried to leave everything behind and escape to the ends of the world is because I want to make sure that Jane's sacrifice wasn't in vain.

I want her death to have meaning. I don't want it to be pointless. There were originally 359 operatives and now I am the only one left. I don't want the sacrifices of all 358 operatives of Project Illusion to be pointless. I will finish what they started, because this is the right thing to do and the only reason that keeps my alive.

Giovanni tilted his head a little towards the sky as he began to speak, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"When I was young all I wanted is to make Kanto a 'better place'." Giovanni mocked with a sneer. "I saw from my travels in Kanto how impoverished we are, how bad our security is and how it allowed criminals to do whatever they want. But improving the economy is the job of the Indigo Government, not the Indigo League. The most the League can do about this problem is to help improve our internal security. Our respective responsibilities dictate that our roles and duties cannot cross. So, the moment I became an Elite Four, I told Kain about Kanto's state, even going so far as to put down my status as a member of the Elite Four and begged him for help. He promised me that he will do something about Kanto's state of poverty. To me, the state of my homeland is way more important than my own pride. It was the reason why I wanted to be an Elite Four in the first place, so that I can have the power to do something."

Giovanni then turned to face me.

"But Kain did nothing. In fact, he exacerbated the problem. That egoistic bastard thinks that he knows it all and tried to interfere with both the Government and the League affairs when the League affairs are strictly none of his business. As a result, he is stretched too thin and unable to direct his focus to things that required immediate attention. Kantonians suffered greatly because of it, and no one noticed because the media, which is under Kain's control, would never report on things like these."

"Was no one on your side, Sir? I find that hard to imagine."

Giovanni chuckled.

"There were many. Our Champion back then was Samuel Oak, and he was also frustrated in Kain's needless meddling in the League's affairs when he had no reason to. Kain always found some way to meddle with Samuel's job behind his back, one way or another, because he simply doesn't trust Samuel no matter what he did. Kain always thinks that only he knows what is best when Samuel is obviously the expert when it comes to pokemon affairs. For crying out loud, Samuel is a Pokemon Professor. That title alone says everything. But did Kain place his trust in Samuel to do his job properly? No, he didn't, even if Samuel is one of the best experts on pokemon I ever had the honour to work with."

From personal experience, I can say for certain that Kain never trusts anybody that he cannot totally control. In this aspect, I can relate to Giovanni.

"On top of that, Kain put in place many stupid policies that deprived Kanto of her rights. Trade restrictions, increase in taxes, depriving Kantonians of jobs in Johto and even in our motherland, not giving financial aid to those who need it but decided to use it to build new luxury apartments in Johto instead, because doing so brings about more financial benefits to Indigo as a whole. Hah. Whole lot of crap. The only people who benefited were Johtonians. It's always Johtonians who benefited from his policies, not Kantonians."

The rage in Giovanni's voice is loud and clear.

"I should have expected it. Kain is a Johtonian, of course he would only care about his own region. Of course he would exploit Kanto's resources to further Johto's own. I pleaded to Kain many times to help Kanto, because he is the President of Indigo and it is his duty to do so. I chose to place my trust in my President but each time I was simply brushed off. I got bitter. I was angry. And it was then I decided that I should take this matter into my own hands."

Giovanni spread his arms out as he continues to make his great revelation.

"Our deposits of rare stones and minerals aside, Kanto really has nothing else that can help guarantee the survival of her economy. Kanto may lack natural resources, but we have something that other regions don't. We have our people, and our people are some of the brightest minds in the world. Just look at Samuel, Fuji, Blaine, and Bill. Among the seven regions, our region had always birthed the most geniuses that helped make the world a better place."

I am not too sure about things not related to pokemon, but Kanto are indeed known for birthing the smartest pokemon researchers and scientists in the world. We were the ones who invented something as ridiculous as Fossil Revival Technology. The living proof is still in Brock's gym in Pewter in the form of a revived kabutops, the first successful specimen that didn't die straight away after its revival. Still, where is this conversation heading to?

"You have to understand, Plague, Kanto's state of poverty was no laughing matter back in the days." Giovanni emphasised further, a serious look on his face. "But I'm a pokemon trainer, not an expert in running Kanto's economy. I am not in a position to do anything. So, I did all I could. I used all my connections to try and find like-minded individuals that can help me. As long as they are experts in areas that can pull Kanto out of poverty, I approached them in secret and convinced them to join me in my cause. My family gave me my full support, and so did my close friends. Together, we started something. Something that can hopefully help Kanto. Slowly, my wife and I managed to form a small team that consists of experts in many areas. Be it in economics, finance, law, geography, pokemon, anything that we think is necessary, we gathered them all. We called ourselves SKIP, Separation of Kanto from Indigo through Peace, because that is our belief. What we are aiming for is to help Kanto leave Indigo, but none of us want to start a war because we know how horrifying war can be. We are not warmongers. It was because of this belief that we were adamant on making it a peaceful separation. As you would already suspect, SKIP would later be reformed by me and my wife into the Team Rocket that we know today."

So this is how Team Rocket truly started. This is not what I was expecting when I finally got to meet Giovanni in person.

"For our beliefs, we worked tirelessly. We need to find ways to allow Kanto to stand on her own and sustain herself without any external help. We knew we lack natural resources that is not our precious stones, and they are perishable resources that will run out one day. Maybe not now, but we have to think about our future. What we fear will happen somewhere in the next few centuries if we rely too much on our precious stones."

Giovanni began to slowly pace about as he continues his story of Team Rocket's history.

"With this in mind, the experts I gathered developed ways to work around it. Our solution was our people. We found ways to invest in our people. Education, for one, is an area that we had heavily invested in. Since all we can rely on are our people, we invested in them. Not only did we secretly set up numerous schools across the region that provide quality and affordable education for any child that needs it, we secretly helped Kanto to develop its service sector, aiming to let Kanto become an international hub that can provide professional services to whoever needs it, from whatever region they hail from. People from around the world will flock to us to use the services our people can offer because our people will be just that good, because we invested in them. That was our plan and vision for Kanto, to help her stand on her own two feet without relying on Johto, all by investing in her people. We cannot rely on Johto since they are outsiders. Kanto is not their home, they wouldn't care whether we live or die. They will always find ways to oppress and exploit us. Look at the past 500 years. Our history said it all."

Now that explains a lot on how Giovanni's Team Rocket has its fingers in almost every pie. He didn't manage to do it alone. He had help from experts in many fields from days long past. But what really happened to them? I barely knew anything about SKIP other than its destruction from what little I knew during my digging for more information. If Giovanni's SKIP was so successful, why was Team Rocket born?

"However, we also knew that what we did was technically illegal, even if it is to help Kanto. Knowing Kain, he won't stand for SKIP's existence once he learnt of it. Do you know why, Plague?"

"If I have to make a guess, Sir." I replied in an even voice as my mind began to piece the picture of Kanto's situation based on what Giovanni told me. "SKIP's existence was undermining the very authority of the Indigo Government. If SKIP proved itself to be too efficient and good in solving Kanto's problems, no one in Kanto would support the Indigo Government. There would no longer be a need for Kanto to be a part of Indigo. As Indigo President, that is one outcome Kain will never accept, because Indigo is Indigo because of the merger of Kanto and Johto."

"Got it in one. I expect nothing less from you." Giovanni nodded in satisfaction. "Like you said, our existence itself might very well topple the Indigo Government. The founding members of SKIP knew that from the very start, that SKIP cannot be exposed in the open or a violent revolution might be sparked when Kantonians learnt what we secretly did for them. That was not an outcome SKIP desired, so everything we did was of utmost secret. SKIP will help Kanto from the shadows and even if no Kantonians knew about what we did for them, it's fine. We never demanded for recognition of our work. All we wanted was for Kanto to prosper and be free. That was all we ever asked."

Really made me wonder just what happened for SKIP to turn into the Team Rocket that I know of today.

"However, we were no fools. We knew that we always need to have a backup plan. Hence, we also prepared ourselves for the worst case scenario, where a peaceful separation of Kanto from Indigo is not possible and war between the two regions break out despite our best efforts. We realised that if our worst fears came through, that we have no choice but to fight back for our own independence and prevent Johto from continuing to oppress and exploit us, we need one thing. One crucial thing that Kanto always lack. We need firepower."

Giovanni sighed as he looked upwards into the sky.

"Johto has the Tower Duo and the Legendary Beasts, who are usually present in Johto, but we had nothing like that on our side. Kanto's only legendaries are the Legendary Birds, who are usually somewhere outside of the region flying to Arceus knows where, only stopping to rest in Kanto when they need a break. We cannot rely on them to defend us in our time of need because they most probably won't be there. In that case, we need something on the level of a legendary pokemon to help defend us, because if we ever found ourselves in war once more against Johto, like what happened before Indigo was founded five centuries ago, we need it to defend us. We need that kind of pokemon, a pokemon who can turn the tide of any battle into our favour."

Giovanni raised two fingers.

"So, SKIP separate ourselves into two groups, like how the Indigo separates itself into the Indigo Government and the Indigo League. One, headed by my best friend back then, will continue to find ways to improve Kanto's impoverished state and make Kanto's peaceful separation from Indigo a reality. Another group, headed by me, will find a way to get a pokemon on the level of a legendary on our side so that when all else fails, we have a way to defend ourselves. My wife and I gathered a team of pokemon trainers, researchers, and scientists for that cause. You might know some of them. Oak, Agatha, Fuji, Blaine, and Bill were people who my wife and I once worked with. We embarked on a secret military project, Project Rebirth."

A military project? I would need to secretly check on the Indigo's own database when I have the time. Maybe the League will have information on it that Giovanni chose not to share with me.

"Samuel Oak is a Kantonian and is able to do something as our Champion, and he was sympathetic to our cause when I tried to recruit him back then. Like me, he had given up on Kain and was frustrated at the level of mistrust Kain has towards everybody else. Samuel is also a brilliant researcher and scientist. He agreed to help us behind Kain's back because he knew that something needs to be done if we want to prevent Kanto from crumbling from within. The signs were all already there. Just one unfortunate event gone wrong will bring about a violent war. As Champion, it was his duty to make sure that didn't happen, so he readily took the offer we gave him."

I have a feeling that I really wouldn't like what I am going to hear.

"I trust Samuel with my life. Since he is more capable than me, I let him take charge of Project Rebirth. With him spearheading Project Rebirth, whose objective is to get a pokemon that can defend our lands from Johto's own legendaries, we made some headway. The combined efforts of the team uncovered the existence of another powerful pokemon whose existence everyone had thought to be a myth for the past millennia. A pokemon that can easily fight against Johto's Legendary Beasts on its lonesome. The pokemon who is said to have the DNA of every single pokemon in existence and the knowledge to use every pokemon move we ever know and even more."

My eyes widened a little in realisation as I quickly pieced the clues together.

No. Damn. Way.

"That pokemon is Mew. By tracking the roots of its myths, we found an old sea map that marked the location of a remote island that is Mew's home. With the combined efforts of Oak, Agatha, Blaine, and I, aided by certain equipment that Fuji and Bill invented, we caught the elusive Mew."

At this point, I cannot help but voice my own thoughts.

"Sir, if we had Mew on our side, then why aren't we already fighting for Kanto's independence?" I asked perplexedly. "Like you said, Mew is a pokemon said to be able to use every single pokemon move in existence with power that puts itself above many other legendaries despite being a mythical pokemon. You said that even if it was a 3 vs 1 scenario, Mew definitely has a way higher chance of beating Johto's Legendary Beasts. Kanto still hasn't found a way to bring herself out of poverty. We are still overly reliant on Johto for our food supply and the only thing we have in abundance here are our rare minerals and stones, and usage of it is still being hindered by the Kanto ban. Those stones are limited resources that will be depleted one day. There is still a sizable group of people from the public who supports Kanto's separation from Indigo. All the motivations and resources we need in fighting a war for Kanto's independence is in our hands. There is no reason why Team Rocket had not already started a war long ago. Why wait?"

Giovanni gave me a weary look.