37 Flicker
-Giovanni POV-
Years...one little miss-hap has set my plans back years….everything was in place for a peaceful takeover of Viridian within the next 3 years before that damned "candyman" set off an unwanted gang war that's rapidly spiralling into full blown urban civil war…
Most of my people who have infiltrated the higher rankings of the bigger known gangs of Viridian have been killed off or being borderline exiled from their positions for suspicion of being an enemy "spy" which has severely limited the amount of information I've been able to acquire to try and contain this clown show of a "gang war".
And to add insult to injury that absolute moron kusunawa not only got himself killed, Which wouldn't have been to much of a set back, especially seeing how his death was ruled accidental, which I found highly unlikely given the circumstances but the fact that clear evidence of his misdeeds were laid out on the kitchen table and subsequently found by a arceus damned Jenny of all people, really set the pace of how quickly things were spiralling and with me not able to stick my nose to far into it without looking suspicious has really bound me to background interference at best in this matter.
After Jenny found more evidence and ran it up the chain things escalated with the league to a point where even background interference was risky and with as much safety as the situation allowed I saved who I could….well those still useful to me anyway, but given how things went…it wasn't many… although I did earn quiet a few favours with some important people out of that…but compared to all of the higher ranked people in the city I had in my pocket now dead, on the run, under investigation or simple already in jail…..it's peanuts
But the gang war only ramped up into even more intense warfare after the league started bringing local down political power that was a direct lifeline of the two instigators of all this trouble after their deep pockets and get out of jail free cards started started disappearing, which in turn brought more league attention which again in turn bound my hands away from being able to benefit from this disaster even further, watching pawn after useful pawn leave the board…it frustrating to say the least
But what really got the league in a frenzy was finding the experimental performance enhancing drug that I had the gangs "field testing" for team Rocket…..there was a long and complex name Rocket scientists named the thing, but the general use name was "Attack X"
Rocket was….is….too weak, we needed a quick and efficient way of leveling the playing field against the menagerie of powerful trainers on the leagues payroll. While Rocket does have some decently powerful trainers whom I've helped raise, we just don't have the gumption to stand toe to toe with what the league can field at the moment, hence the need of the drug…
It was in its initial stages and for its intended purpose it worked but it had one major side effect… it essentially crippled the Pokémon it was injected into, if not outright killed them by overtaxing their life force, which in itself isn't much of an issue if we just use disposable Pokémon but the problem was that the Pokémon in question would only listen to commands for a few minutes at most before they lost control of themselves and attacked everyone and everything in a murderous rage, which complicated things…
But one of the grunts of the "Toxic Arboks" found if you doped a Pokémon capable of using "Self Destruct" or "Explosion" the effected Pokémon used every last ounce of its remaining life force to power the attack, essentially turning something that would struggle to shatter a building to effectively almost levelling a city block, which in itself isn't a major accomplishment for a semi strong trained pokemon but considering the pokemon being used were barely being trained at all made it a very potentially potent weapon in Rockets arsenal….
But one of those fools was found dead in an alley with his neck broken after a suicidal attack that I thankfully managed to cover up publicly as a gas leak, and that absolute waste of breathe managed to still have an intact vial of Rockets potential new weapon on him when he was found…..by another Jenny no less….and that turned everything on its head again, especially after the league found out what it was capable of and it was a genuine threat to their power….
The league went into a frenzy and decided I alone wasn't enough to handle this situation and sent one of the elite 4, luckily for Rocket and myself he doesn't seem very smart…Bruno may be a monster of a Pokémon trainer but he's rather simple when it comes it almost anything else….thank arceus for small miracles I suppose, I almost suspected the league made the connection to me and what's happening and was trying to lure me into a false sense of security with sending someone so ill equipped for the job but according to my sources in the upper management of the league, he was the only one available at the time…. But I'm still having Rocket keep an extremely low profile regardless…
*sigh*
Even with all these set backs I can't give up now….not after I've lost so much….Johto has taken far to much from Kanto for me to stop now, especially with a new champion yet to be chosen and from the way the political currents are flowing it's going to be that Wataru punk who claims the title….taking even more away from my homeland…..even without oak or Fuji, I'll finish what we started….
The project is getting closer….we just need a few more things for it to move to the next phase….we just ne-
*knock knock*
*ahem* "you may enter"
Archer, one of my top executives enters my office with vanilla folder, dressed smartly in his business attire and looking to have the information I've been waiting on…
"Good afternoon Mr Giovanni, I've got the information you've been waiting for"
"Well….don't leave me in suspense?, have you found it?"
Archer hands me the vanilla folder, I open it to see what looks pictures of a rather untamed island covered in snow and ice, looking untouched by human hands.
From the photos it looks like the entire islands is surrounded by sharp, rocky and icy cliff faces that make the island in question frankly impossible to stage a landing operation without the aid of larger flying Pokémon…
"Yes sir, we've found it….we have teams already on the island, searching the area as covertly as possible"
"…..excellent…. Are assault squads and hunters we've hired ready to begin the operation as soon as possible?"
"Yes Mr Giovanni, after we confirmed it's position the assault crews were prepared and readied…"
"….and you've made sure they understand the goal? They only need to collect its DNA….some blood, some feathers….that's all, once they have it they are to retreat immediately is that understood?"
"Yes sir"
"…..good…..Archer…..you know how important this operation is, make sure there are no mistakes, I would go myself but I can't be anywhere near something like this at the moment with everything going on….failure is not an option…."
"I have it well in hand Sir, I'll see this done personally…."
"…..good…. We won't get another shot at this so make it count, it's essential to the project…..dismissed…"
I get a hot blooded salute as my top executive sees himself out and I'm left on my lonesome once again to ponder about the weapon I'm trying to create….
*PPPPRRRRRRR*
I feel a bump to my side as I hear a throaty rumble and see my old friend Persian rubbing himself against my elbow trying to comfort my growing anxieties….well not on my lonesome it seemed…
"We walking on a tight rope old friend, and the winds are picking up….let's just hope the wind blows our way…"
-Gideon POV-
Becky managed to get the shopping all done in a day with only 3 trips without any real issues bar a few weird stares at just how much she was buying.
My arm and leg seemed to have been healed for the most part after Slowpoke hitting me with as many heal pulses as his energy would allow him….it's still kind of sore though so I'm staying away from using my effected limbs for the time being by not moving when I don't have to and using the crutch meowth found for me.
I know nothing probably happened and Becky is a smart cookie so she most likely got everything on the list without trouble and no one would question a teenage girl who was "shopping for her sick grandparents"….but even still I question becky about her shopping trips just to try and give some sort of peace offering to my rising paranoia
"Besides the strange looks, anything else stand out? Shady looking people following you around? Anyone glancing your way a little to much on a phone call? Anything like that?"
She was just putting the last of the cold supplies away in one of the "outside" fridges before she turns to me.
"No Gideon, there wasn't a shady guy following me around or people sneaking glances while talking on a phone, people were just surprised by how much I was spending was all…."
"You're sure?"
"Yes I'm sure"
"Did you get the extra Nutella like I asked and leave it out for Slowpoke on the trip home?"
"….yeah….why did you have me do that by the way?"
"It's to distract him from the main supply, if you didn't he would have eaten himself sick on months worth of the stuff before you were halfway home…..what about the lemon scent pokemon shampoo that was on the list?"
"I uuuhhhhh….couldn't buy that…"
"…..why?"
"Slowpoke kept ripping it out of my hands and throwing it under the isles of the store every time i tried to grab it, I lost about 8 bottles before I gave up and bought blueberry at his insistence, none of that would have happened if you just let me take his ball"
"…..it's fine…. You get everything else on the list? The non metallic polish and 10 microfibre hand towels? The water proofed drill brushes with all the fittings? How about the 20L grass type fertiliser spray tanks? Or the-"
"Gideon….if it was on the list and wasn't lemon scent shampoo I got it…what's up with you lately? You've been really on edge.."
I felt my heckles rise a little when she mentioned me being on edge
"On edge?!, I was caught in the middle of a terrorist attack just going to buy lunch and almost killed by some sort of suicidal explosion that broke half of my limbs and the news is claiming it a random gas leak!….*breaths in*...*breaths out*…..look, I know I've been a bit touchy, I get that, but it's probably going to be how I am for awhile while I settle down, I may have some form of PTSD or something I don't know..but I do know I'm not sleeping great and I'm jumping at shadows….I'm sure it'll die down sooner or later but just bare with it for now yeah?"
As I finish the lamps in the corners of the room all start flickering on and off which sets off alarm bells in my head for with all sorts of shit from the power company finally caught on to we're under attack….
All my Pokémon from the room over rushed in as they notice the lights flickering as well looking both confused and ready to rumble if shit goes sideways, even Becky's butterfree zoomed in to hover over her protectively…
We stand there and watch the lights flickering for a good few minutes with our hearts in our throats as no one said anything, but I did notice Slowpoke had a teleport primed and ready, but eventually the lights returned to normal and we all let out a breath…
It wasn't that we couldn't survive without electricity but it would make life a lot harder then it needed to be, but I was more worried about people being sent to investigate a dead building that was sucking juice and what that could lead to…I was hoping they were just assuming it was stray magnemite that had found power and were trying to eat….
This was my home now for better or worse, and as much as if like too, bailing on viridian wasn't really an option right now. It would take a month of walking to make it to Pewter city and I would have to start all over again, even if I still had a good amount of saving stock piled…but how long would that last if I had to move?
Moving wasn't an option until we were stronger and even then I don't really want to, I like this place…I'm hoping that electricity flickering was unrelated but I'm a firm believer of preparing for the worst and expecting the worst, especially now with all these crazy paranoid thoughts running though my head…so I had to do something….
"Becky, when do stores normally close?"
"Uhhh, regular stores normally close about 5 or 6 why?"
"Guess it's to late today….tomorrow I'm coming for a trip in town and we're going to pick up some more stuff…."
"….ok?…."
I've read in a few magazines randomly here and there that they have camping generators that can be fuelled easily enough by a Pokémon's electricity, and seeing how meowth knows thunderbolt it should work….but seeing how it had to run like 4 fridges and freezes I doubt one would be enough…maybe a gas bottle or two as well? Man this is going to cut into my stash but I gotta do what I gotta do….I need to be back at 100% again so I can pull a few more jobs and hopefully meowth and machop evolve soon….
