Looker's POV

One day ago

I was sitting in my house, thinking how everything about Giovanni was unknown. A criminal mastermind about whom we had little information. The thought bugged me everytime I realised that I've been trying to arrest Giovanni for so long and had failed many times. The only way to catch Giovanni was getting his location, which was impossible. Ever since he has started his "good guy" behaviour, I can't even imagine why people believed such a person, I on the other hand had been figuring out the life of Giovanni, why did FBI had no records of such a person. I mean, he is an international criminal.

Unexpectedly, my phone rang and I answered. "Han, I am almost done with the multi-dimensional plasmatic gate." Said Gregory Silverman. I knew the man was a genius, he just have to send Petrel and Proton back to their universe and done.

"Send them back now." I said. "Thank you for your help."

"Um, there is one problem." Said Gregory, his voice went from joyful to tense. "The frequency at which Petrel and Proton's body exist, our Earth should not harm them in any way. I think they're bluffing cause none of them seem to have any knowledge of the physics behind the concept of multiverse."

I knew it, I should not have believed the two, Team Rocket will always be Team Rocket and will always have an evil plan. Whatever it was, it included opening the breach again and I would never let that happen.

"Do not start the device at any cost. They're surely plotting onto something." I ordered. Suddenly, my landline rang, which was a hundred times unusual as I had not recharged it.

I hung up Gregory's call and slowly walked to the landline. The caller ID said - unknown caller and the phone number wasn't displayed. I answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Looker. Listen to me. I know you've been searching for Giovanni and want his location, and I can help you with that, but I want you to keep this between you and me only." Said the voice on phone.

"Who is this?"

"A friend." Said the man I had never met in my entire life.

"And what makes us 'friends'?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

"And may I know why is Giovanni your enemy?" I asked, curiously.

"Giovanni, that man took away everything from me, my life, my family, everything." Said the voice. "I've been working with Giovanni for a few years now and I've been trying my best to lure him into your traps but everytime you were unable to catch him. So, I decided to reach out to you myself."

"If you want to help me, meet me in person. And then tell me about Giovanni." I said.

"I'm not that stupid, Han." He said.

"How- how do you know my name?" I asked as the man used my real name which infact only a few people had knowledge of. "Who are you?" I irated.

"Mahogany Town, Team Rocket base is the place you want to be. Charles will be coming there to get something that belongs to me. Following him, you'll learn about a few more Team Rocket hideouts." Said the voice. "If you fail, I'll call you again."

The call ended.

Ethan's POV
Present

"Ah, Red. You're up early." I said, Red came downstairs from the guest room in the Pokecenter.

I, on the other hand, am an early riser, and looking at the young trainer, I doubt we had anything in common.

Red looked around and then walked outside. I was curious, Lyra wasn't up, and he definitely won't just leave her alone. I had only one question in my mind - where are you going?

I walked after him, it was silly of me to have any suspicions on him, but I was curious.

I followed him outside, he stopped in an open field next to the Pokecenter and started training with his Pokemon.

He already knew that the gym leader was going to be an ice type and ye was ready to tackle ice with fire. I figured that Charizard is always going to save Red from losing any battle, but that was Red's weakness.

Remove Charizard, and he's gonna lose the battle if against ice or rock or anything except water, cause then, Pikachu is his saviour.

I liked his trait to learn more from his loss but, after he lost the league, things had been weird for him, well that's what I thought.

Looker's POV

I was disguised as a Pokemon Ranger to avoid getting spotted, and this was my worst decision. People were asking me about Pokemon in Mount Mortar as the new route bypasses the mountain and it gets a lower rate of tourists.

I managed to wait for Charles, which I was informed was going to come here, to get something of the mysterious man. What could it be? The most important thing for me was to get information about that man and Giovanni.

And I also knew that Charles was going to come here, the easiest thing - capture Charles.

And I knew exactly where he was, thanks to Charles, he brought a black Mercedes in Mahogany Town, obviously it was him.

The car stopped outside a Shop, and a man walked out of the car and into the shop. There was no one else with him, just a driver, wearing a Team Rocket uniform.

The driver stepped out of the car, probably looking for a public washroom. I had an idea, I simply followed him inside the washroom in the Pokecenter.

After making sure that no one else was present there, I secretly gave him an injection that would make him unconscious for a few hours.

I replaced our clothes and I was now wearing a Team Rocket outfit. I hid the driver in the corner of the washroom and went back into the car.

Charles came back with a box and sat in the back seat of the car. "Quick! Back to the base."

I started driving towards Mount Mortar, I knew an area which was isolated where I could inquire Charles and then send him to jail.

Charles did not look where I was taking him, he was busy in his phone the entire way.

I stopped the car when we reached Mount Mortar and took out my gun.

"We've reached our destination." I said, revealing my face while pointing my pistol at him.

"Looker?" Charles was surprised. He was not expecting me to do anything like this, kidnapping him to a remote location was the last thing he thought I would do. He was shocked and even more shocked after what I asked him.

"You're still working with Giovanni aren't you?" My pistol was still pointed towards him, aiming right at his head. Charles was sweating, he had no idea what he had to do, he acted as if he was waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

Then suddenly, he calmed down and said in a rather serious tone. "Looker. Can't be more happy to see you!" He was definitely out of his mind. But then I realised, this is not something Charles would say if I kidnapped him, but it is something Giovanni would.

Well, no I'm not thinking that Charles and Giovanni switched bodies or something but I'm sure that Giovanni was telling Charles to say things, and right now too, he commanded him to say those specific things.

"Get rid of the coms please." I said, pointing at my ear. "Not gonna repeat myself, Charles.

Charles removed an earpiece and clipped off a wire which connected the earpiece to a small box-like device which he must be using to communicate with Giovanni. I snatched the device from his hand and threw it off the cliff from the car window.

While I was throwing it, he managed to disarm me and took my pistol. "Ha! Now, I'm definitely going to get a promotion that was promised to me, but I'll get it a bit soon. After, of course, your death." He slowly pulled the trigger and it clicked. The pistol had no bullets.

"Okay, as I was saying, tell me about Giovanni's plans. What he is going to do? When is he going to do it? And how is he going to do it? I want to know everything."

Suddenly, my cell phone rang. The number wasn't displayed, instead Private Number was displayed. I answered it.

"You've actually made things easy for me." Said the voice of the mysterious man who called me previously. "Though it'll be a pity if I miss the shot."

I looked around, there was a man, in a wooden black mask in a distance. He had a gun in his hands and pointed it towards Charles.

"Get down!" I shouted, as Charles ducked and the man in the mask pulled the trigger, breaking the glass.

I started the car, but the engine was down. I got off and pointed my pistol towards the Man in the Mask and slowly walked towards him.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Tell me or else I'll find out eventually."

"I know you'll find out eventually, Han." He said. "But my work will be done by the time you do. And trust me, Han. We're on the same side. Like I said, I'm just fighting for my own life, and no one can help me."

I walked further as he kept walking backwards, away from me. He looked behind at a huge tree which was different than the other trees, the others were small.

"Then take this." Said the man. Throwing a gun towards me. But it wasn't any regular gun. It looked futuristic. "This is a memory gun, set the dial at 1 and shoot Charles. He'll forget everything that happened in the last one hour."

As I bent to pick up the gun, the man hid behind the tree. I rushed towards the tree, but the man was gone, disappeared in thin air.

I did what he suggested me to do. I erased Charles memory and knocked him out, then I left him in his car outside the Team Rocket Base in Mahogany.

The whole thing was a waste. I didn't get any information about Giovanni, nor the mysterious Masked Man.

As I was walking by the Mahogany Pokecenter, I saw a familiar face. "Red?"

"Ah, Looker." He replied with a smile, calling back his Ivysaur.

Ethan's POV

I kept myself hidden behind a tree, while Looker and Red had a talk. I managed to eavesdrop, quite easily.

"I want you to know something. And the only reason I give information to you is that your father was a good friend of mine, and you're the only trainer in history to go toe-to-toe with Giovanni." Said Looker.

"What do you want me to know?" Asked Red.

"I believe Giovanni is not the only threat." Said Looker. "There is someone who is controlling everything, far above Giovanni, but he says that he's against him and wants to destroy him. He also attempted to kill Charles."

"Who is that guy?" Red asked, curious. "So he must be the person who created all of Team Rocket's evil plans. But then how does he plan to destroy Giovanni? And why would he?"

"He told me that Giovanni took everything from him, his life, his family, everything. And from many years he has been creating all of Giovanni's plans."

Impossible - I thought. What Looker was saying was not possible. Giovanni was his own leader.

Soon enough, I was at the Mahogany Gym, standing right in front of the infamous Pryce, who used to own a Team Rocket Warehouse rumoured to be in the Sevii, but was never found.

Something reminded me of an important information related to Pryce. As I looked around, I could see a black wooden mask lying on the sofa where he was previously sitting.

Well, where have I heard of a black wooden mask before? Looker was talking about a man wearing that kind of mask, who is also the man who helps Giovanni.

Given that he used to own a Rocket Warehouse and that Giovanni is responsible of his family's untimely demise. I was sure he was the man Looker was looking for.

"That's great deduction, Ethan." Said Lyra, as if she read my mind. "Also, wasn't Pryce the Man in the Mask in the Adventures manga?"

"What?" I asked, after Lyra was done making up words. "What are you talking about?"