I've never been one to hate doing the dishes. It's just been ingrained into me in my past life's need to live with college roommates who can't be bothered to clean their own dishes. So, I suppressed my frustration to the point to where it's a minor annoyance at best.

…Except now in this situation, I was utterly vexed. What with the man who nearly killed me, now standing right beside me trying and failing to take each washed dish that I vehemently stacked on the dish rack to dry. Whatever mom had planned with this, I had no idea, but one thing's for certain I wanted this done and over with. Both this task and being in Giovanni's vicinity.

I peeked over at the timer. 3 minutes it says…ugh…

"I was led to believe that this was a two-man task." He spoke up after getting denied a chance to rack up another dish.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly exhaled and did all in my power to not glance at the hardwood knife rack that I moved over to my end of the sick. If I was stuck with him for 3 minutes, then I may as well get something out of it, as reluctantly as I am to go through with it.

"Why are you here?" I lowly asked, carefully scrubbing clean a few forks.

"To enjoy the splendid dinner that-." For once I was glad to have the timer because once I pointed at it, it forced the bastard to actually give me an answer that hadn't been regurgitated this entire evening. "…I…" He paused and looked thoughtful for a moment, then looked at me. My glare hardened as our eyes met, but instead of glaring back, he broke our eye contact just to sigh. "I see that the fruits of your efforts have taken you far in your last conference."

What?

"Good." He nodded to himself and looked out the window and up at the night sky. "An exemplary feat to reach the Finals on your first journey as a trainer. It would have been palatable if you had beaten that Sinnohan Foreigner, but you had still proven yourself by besting that Blackthorn girl and one upping those cocky Johtonians. For that you have my respect."

What?

"What the hell are you-?" My hand reflexively reached for the knife set when Giovanni whipped out a…check (?) in front of my face. "Huh?"

"For doing Kanto a great service by acting as her suitable representative, consider this as proper recompense for your hard work and-." I snatched the check, crumpled it up, tore it to pieces, dumped the pieces in the sink and turned on the garbage disposal. I'll hate myself later for getting it clogged, but I just chose not to give a fuck right now.

I didn't want his dirty money.

"That was a check for 800,000 pokédollars." He narrowed his eyes at me, but I didn't budge.

"…Why are you here?" With more finality, I bit out the words with a wide-eyed glare.

"…Luke Ketchum, it is not lost on me that I am quite literally the last person that you'd want to see." No, you're the first person who I'd want to fall off the face of the earth. "However, I assure you that I am here with no ill intent to harm you and your loved ones." Bullshit. "Revenge is the furthest thing I had in mind when coming to visit your home. Besides, Me-urck!" I smiled just a bit as the man grappled with Mewtwo's mental fail-safes kicked in. "Besides, that pokémon has already made it very clear how much intel you have on the activities of Team Rocket and myself. I've already taken one risk with you and I am not physically able enough to take another."

He indicated to his limp arm and greyed out eye in a clear "as you can see" gesture. I had no clue how Mewtwo was able to screw him up that badly, but I certainly wasn't complaining about Giovanni suffering.

"Does it hurt?"

"I've lost proper depth perception and can no longer move my dominant arm, much less feel it." It wasn't a definitive yes or no, but it was close enough.

"Good."

"…" He blankly looked at me before deeply breathing in and exhaling out. "The point that I'm making is…I've come bearing a white flag, Luke Ketchum."

"A white flag?"

"Yes, if my poor condition was just physical, then this decision wouldn't have come to me so easily. However, due to recent…events." He glanced at me before looking at his sole good hand. "I've come to understand that I can't stand as tall as used to."

"How terrible, I feel so sorry for you…" I growled.

Yeah, it's so sad that you actually suffered the consequences of your actions. Like losing all feeling in your arm and being blind along with possibly losing your seat as Gym Leader and…oh, right, losing a freaking artificial legendary would amount to all of the lives you ruined and took!

If anything, despite everything he's been through during and after our battle, Giovanni deserved far worse than what he actually got. He deserved worse than death.

He ignored my comment to continue on with a rather surprising admittance. "That is why I am no longer the Boss of Team Rocket."

"…!" Taken off guard, I dropped the dishes in my hand and winced as they clattered against the stainless steel.

"As I am now, I can no longer fulfill our organization's dreams and goals and I doubt that I can fully put myself back together again to make another attempt. I may hold some sway, but my role as it's leader and figurehead are officially over."

"I don't believe you." I narrowed my eyes to him.

"Good. Ascertain the worth of someone's truth by their actions rather than their words." It sickened me to receive his praise. "However, if your paranoia gets the better of you, then know that Team Rocket won't come after you or your loved ones. So, relax, we've taken care of it."

"Who's we?" I inquired and was met with a brief silence.

"…As a sign of good will, I'll reveal this to you. As I am no longer the Leader of Team Rocket, it's Founder and my predecessor have taken back the reigns." My heart nearly stopped with that reveal. What? Another boss from Team Rocket before Giovanni? No…no, that's not…

That shouldn't be a thing! I've no recollection of anyone beside Giovanni being the boss. His grunts, executives, and even that old scientist guy from the anime were easy to remember.

"She goes by Madam Boss, and her agenda for Team Rocket during it's early phase held more archaic methods to my own."

Madam Boss.

Madam Boss…Madam Boss…Madam Boss…Madam Boss…

…

…

…Shit, I have no clue who that is!

"That's her title?" He nodded at my question. "Do you know her name?"

"It would be ungrateful of me not to know her name." Odd way to put it but at least that's a yes.

"Then what is it?"

"You'll figure it out in time." Giovanni solemnly closed his eyes.

"For someone trying to relieve me of my paranoia, you certainly suck at giving crucial information." I snarked. "What if she isn't as willing to bury the hatchet like you supposedly are?" And come after my family instead of you, went unsaid.

"Í won't elaborate beyond saying that you have nothing to worry about and that you'll figure out why in due time." Ugh, he really isn't giving me much to go off of here. Its not like I believe him quitting as that stupid group's Boss, but the news that there's ANOTHER possible Boss besides Giovanni who I have no clue of did make me extremely worried.

"Luke Ketchum, I wouldn't be giving you a forewarning if this wasn't important. It is. Unlike me, you won't find Madam Boss to be as reasonable or as compromising."

"…Is that supposed to be a joke?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, it isn't. To give you context, we won't go after you and your loved ones. However, I would make the distinction that your loved ones would be your brother, mother, and any friends that you made that aren't blood related. She would only make the distinction for your immediate family and wouldn't bat an eye if an associate of yours gets in her way and has to be dealt with."

"…You're kidding…"

"Again, I am not."

"…" I rubbed my chin with a deep frown. "What's she planning?"

"You're guess is as good as mine. As I am now, she doesn't even deem the thought of confiding in me worth considering. So like you, I'm completely in the dark." Again, once he reached into his jacket to pull something out, my hand crept towards the knife set. Instead of a weapon or a check, he pulled out a pokeball. Unminiaturizing the device, he placed it onto the countertop in front of me.

"Now what's this?"

"Your award."

"For what?"

"…"

"If this is another part of your crappy spiel to prove that you're not a threat, then forget it. I don't want it."

"It's not from me."

"…? Then who?"

"…" I'm getting real tired of your silence, asshole.

I didn't glance or grab the pokéball, my mind trying to unravel everything that was revealed in this whole talk had me centered in on the one question that I needed to ask. A question that had me worried about a conversation that I desperately needed to have with mom later.

"Why?" I slowly asked.

"Why what, Luke Ketchum?" he asked, looking me in the eye.

"Why are you even telling me this? Why even show up here to eat dinner with my family? After what you pulled, shit won't ever be cleared between us and it should be the same for you. You didn't have to tell me about your "supposed" removal as Team Rocket's Boss, nor did you have to warn me about this "supposed" new Boss who's relatively worse than you. So actually, give me an honest answer, Giovanni. Why are you here?"

Giovanni closed his eyes and sighed, "It would be an insult to you and myself if I simply apologized for what I'd done." My glare hardened. "It would not change what has happened, and I'm more than aware that you'd want to hear less of me seeking atonement."

"You're right so get to the point." I spoke through gritted teeth. The audacity to even bring this up and make mention of an "apology" or "atonement" which could sweep aside me almost dying and losing my pokémon pissed me off. The fact that was aware of this made me restrain the vitriol I had on the tip of my tongue.

"In the end, I've always kept to heart one lesson from my childhood. That lesson drove me to come and…do what came naturally to me." For the first time, when Giovanni looked at me, he no longer had that cold look in his eyes.

For the first time, I could actually vividly detect and identify some emotion behind his mien.

For the first time ever since I had the misfortune of meeting the man, he fondly gazed at me.

"I acted out for the betterment of the Family."

I-!

…

…

…

…I-I think I'm going throw up…!

I swiftly turned away from the man and walked to the mechanical cook timer and forced the dial to go from 45 seconds to 0 seconds.

*DING!*

"Leave." I gutturally growled and quickly covered my mouth. It took everything I had not to heave on the spot.

"…As you wish. Have a pleasant evening, Luke Ketchum. Also, the one who wishes to grant you that pokémon does so because she was impressed with the solution that you came upon with the Laramies. You may not care, but take it from me, getting praise from her is quite an accomplishment."

"Go away."

I did all in my power not to acknowledge Giovanni. I left my back to be watched by Kamina, who stalwartly kept a close eye on the man as he gathered his Persian and swiftly left the premises. I did everything I could to just keep myself busy until mom was done bathing Ash but cursed myself for being so quick and efficient with washing the dishes.

I assured my pokémon outside that everything went well, but even they could tell from a glance that…I wasn't.

Just how…?

…

…

…

"…" I sat on the living room couch, impatiently jostling my foot in place. For 30 minutes, I did nothing but sat in silence, occasionally look at the pokeball on the coffee table between the couches, and cast a couple of glances at the shrine in the room holding…dad's photo. My mind just wouldn't stop swirling around what Giovanni had said.

Family.

Hearing him say that disgusted me. Tenfold when he looked at me so…softly. It was such a drastic change from the man who had been determined to wipe me off the face of the earth. Mom's unknown reason in even allowing him to be here aside, he did show up and was motivated by something.

What exactly was that something that brought him here.

I glanced at dad's photo once more and shook my head.

No, Asch Ketchum was my father.

He was there when I was born and he's been there for me ever since I was a wreak coming off of the violent end to my old life. Without his kindness and patience, I doubt I would have been as adjusted as I am now. I refuse to even consider Giovanni as my potential father, the way that mom treated dad and him was like night and day, and the attitude mom had with the bastard wasn't one of a broken ex. There was genuine disdain from her attitude and mannerisms, the same as me.

So that only left more questions.

…Unless…

Unless I actually start to peel back some glaring holes from the past. Unlike mom, who has an extensive family history with Pallet Town, dad was pretty much an orphan. At least, that's what he told me when he said that he had no parents to show me off to.

Dad was also a free lance worker. He didn't have a steady job and would jump from the jobs provided in town to help support our family with mom, who worked as a waitress down at Granny Arlene's place. Most of the time he worked around town just for the sake of helping folks, and in turn, they helped us back.

Plus, the scars.

I had been curious enough to ask about them as a child and he always waved them off about some wild pokémon catching him off guard once. But looking back, many of those scars varied in size and depth that upon closer inspection, they couldn't have all been from the same creature.

There was also the fact that when it came to venturing out of town to go purchase things from Vermillion or Celadon city, Dad was always at home in Pallet while Mom handled everything.

…Wait a minute.

…!

"Ugh…I don't know if this is better or worse." I groaned into the palms of my hands.

"Then spill your thoughts to me, sweetie. I'm more than happy to hear you vent." I looked past the cracks of my fingers to spot mom now donned in a yellow bathrobe, making her way to the couch in front of me. "Sorry for the wait."

"N-No…it's fine, mom. I get it." Ash was always hard to bathe sometimes and that meant having to take a shower/bath yourself after cleaning him off.

"Did everything go well?" Mom asked in concern. "He didn't try to pull anything on you while you two were down here alone?"

I bitterly chuckled. "If you were so worried about that possibility then why would you leave me with him?" I bit my lip in self-reprimand after seeing mom flinch back as if struck by my remark. It hurt to see her like that, but it felt like it needed to be said.

That among many other issues I had with her decisions this night.

"T-That's fair." Mom deeply inhaled and exhaled, calming herself down and placing on a serious expression. "I chose to believe that he'd keep his word and already be so broken from our first chat that he wouldn't dare lift a finger to you again." Risky. Too risky. I didn't know what this chat entailed (but I could make somewhat of a guess) but leaving it to chance especially with Giovanni was too reckless.

"It was hardheaded of me… No, it was foolish of me to simply let that happen of all things. Heh, I didn't even feel secure with my own choice and yet I just…did it just to get it out of the way…" Mom tiredly sighed and guiltily looked to the ground, her hand covering an eye. "I saw an opportunity and…I took it. This night was just…all about relieving so many of my burdens rather than taking the feelings of you all into account."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Opportunities? "Is that why you didn't tell me that our dinner guest was going to be that asshole?"

Mom looked ready to scold me for my crass language before quickly shutting her mouth to despondently sigh, "Yes."

"…" I kept quiet and silently waited for her to explain herself. My gaze was judgement free although mom still didn't seem to look any less guilty.

"I was so happy, y'know." She started a small smile creeping onto her face. "Seeing you finally start to get more active, getting out of your room beyond taking Ash to school and visiting Prof. Oak's lab to check in on your pokémon. Nothing brought me more joy than to see you enjoy that battle with that nice young man Aaron." Then slowly that smile began to fell. "Then thoughts of…fulfilling a promise w-with your father began to surface a-and seeing you start to lose your fatigue made me feel like…it was time to just get it over with."

She looked to dad's shrine and forlornly gazed upon his photo with a soft gaze. No matter how many years flew by, she was always sending that picture such a longing look. Like if she were to stare at it at just the right moment, he could just pop back into our lives out of thin air.

It was a look I knew well because I've probably made it about half as many times as her.

"I didn't want to spring it on you when you were too tired or bothered to really move about. I wanted you to feel well-rested and more put together in mind because I felt that otherwise, you'd be under more distress." Mom said.

"Mom…I literally felt like my heart would stop just from seeing his Persian alone…" I gritted my teeth from recalling the sensation.

"…S-Sorry…" She weakly whispered.

"H-How cou-?" I began but paused once she began to wipe the traces of moisture from her eyes. She and Ash were potentially in danger and if not for the presence of Clair and Lance, I would have felt more on edge with his presence in the house.

It was reckless and stupid to even have Giovanni here around them even if he is critically injured.

…But I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Mom's actions and mannerisms with Giovanni seemed to prove one of my guesses right about what she knew of the crime boss. I can get frustrated with her decision to leave me in the dark like that, but I couldn't just straight up be mad at her. Call me a softy or a momma's boy, but I preferred to be rational with the sole parent I have left in this life.

People weren't perfect and parents weren't exempted from it. Love and affection tended to blind others, even me, from seeing that moms and dads can make stupid choices like anyone else. Its just that when they do screw up, their mistakes have colossal ramifications for everyone with an immediate relationship with them, even their kids.

And so, I drew upon my past life's 25 years worth of accumulated patience to temper my indignation and cool my head.

Deep breath in…

…and out…

Okay, lets just piece things together so I can make my conclusion. So, I started with the possible conclusion I came upon just before she arrived. "Is Giovanni my-" My face tightened as I bit out the word. "-uncle?"

Mom blinked in surprise before she slowly nodded, her eyes dropping down. "He is."

…Urgh. That's better than him being my father at least. Still, I don't know if this is still good overall because that calls into question dad's-no! Dad's fine. I'm not about to start doubting him.

"Giovanni Brando is the elder brother to Giorno Brando, your fat-."

"Asch Ketchum is my father." I cut mom off before she could finish. She seemed surprised by my outburst yet she smiled just a little bit. "I'll…at least come to terms with that bastard being my biological uncle, but I won't budge on who my father is."

Asch Ketchum was the name of the man who raised me, not Giorno. I…I could honestly care less about "Giorno" and whatever past he had… Really, I wouldn't care. Asch Ketchum was a kind man and I'll be damned before anything besmirches that image of him from my memories.

"Good, I'm glad." Mom seemed to agree. Her smile was more proud than crestfallen. "Still, I feel like you should at least know about his diary and more on Asch's life, sweetie. I can tell you all I know before giving the diary to you."

"No!" I blurted out.

"…Luke?"

"I…" Under mom's worried gaze, I quickly suppressed the dread that crept up in my breast just to slowly shake my head. "N-No…for now. I don't really need to see it now. Dad's still dad, and I'm fine with how things are to delve that deeply."

"If you say so, dear. J-Just know that if you change your mind or want to talk, I'll always make time to tell you everything that I know." Mom's reassurance just made me wish that she was more hesitant about sharing that information. Then I internally chided myself for even wanting her to feel that messed up as to deny me what I didn't want to hear.

"I-I will, mom. Thanks." Gotta change the topic…oh. "Erm…so, how long have you known about Giovanni being-?"

"Being heavily affiliated with Team Rocket?" Well that confirmed one of my predictions. "The day that we learned that I was carrying you." Ugh, now I really don't want to read that diary.

"And this promise that you mentioned earlier, it dealt with Ash and I having to meet Giovanni?" I inquired to which she nodded.

"Your father loved and admired his elder brother…sort of like how Ash looks up to you." I scrunched my face at the comparison, but mom pushed forward with her explanation. "He at least…wanted his own children to know and meet him just once."

…

"Really?" I frowned.

"Yes." Mom sadly looked at the floor.

"Couldn't you have at least told us rather than bring him over?" It honestly would have saved me the turmoil of having to deal with that asshole's presence and wrack my head just to piece together why he's here.

Mom shook her head. "He desperately wanted you two to meet him, and…I…" Mom bit her lip in frustration. "I just couldn't come up with a way to tell either of you two when you're so young and innocent about an uncle who's done about every depraved and heinous act under the sun in Kanto. I wanted to wait until you two were at least in your early twenties, but then…"

"Viridian Gym." It clicked together at that moment. My Gym Battle with Giovanni pretty much kick started this whole avalanche of family bullshit to spiral out of control.

"After seeing you in the hospital, covered in blood and the marks of his hand around your neck." I'd never heard mom spoke with such venom when she mentioned my injuries. "My anger got the better of me and I went to start fulfilling that promise I made with your father. I…" Mom gulped and clenched her fist. "I wanted to hurt him, the same way he had hurt my baby boy. I enjoyed watching every second of his world collapse around him as he broke down, gasping for answers that would not change the vilest wrong that he had almost committed."

"Killing his own nephew." I breathed out.

Mom nodded, then deeply sighed. All of her rage oozed out of her and what remained was a dejected woman. "Yet after my rage had left me, I was now left with the realization that…now I had to bring the very same man who once harmed my boy to meet him and my other sweet son in a proper meeting."

"But you didn't have to though. The promise. You didn't have to go that far over a promise with dad, mom. I'm sure he'd-." Like mom, dad wasn't perfect so if he knew who Giovanni was (ugh, now I really REALLY don't want to read that diary) and who he affiliated himself with then pushing such a thing on mom was just unreasonable.

It hurt to doubt dad like this, but I worried more for mom's current mental health. "You just…shouldn't have to fulfill such a messy promise."

"…Believe me, Lukey. I would have wanted nothing more than to forget, but…" Once more she longingly gazed at dad's photo and tears began to well up in her eyes. "No matter how hard I wanted to, I just couldn't. To do so would feel like…like spitting in his face after he bared his everything to me. His fears, his regrets, and all. Plus, it was the only thing I had left of him…"

…Dammit, this was just too messy. Mom was still struck hard by dad's death as I was and buried that pain deep down just to focus on raising Ash and me. It would only make sense that something gave eventually, and me facing Giovanni just forced all of that out to the forefront.

What mom did was admittedly stupid and reckless, I won't discount that just because I have a massive bias towards her.

"But you two also were what he had left me too, and I endangered the both of you with my last-minute decision." Mom deeply bowed her head with a quiver in her voice to sob. "Luke, please forgive me. I'm sorry for making you re-experience whatever horrible thing that happened on that day with that horrible man by letting him in under our roof. Before my own son's health and safety, I sought to fulfill my duties as a lover over my duties as your mother.

Drops of tears stained the carpet on mom's end of the coffee table. "I-I'm so sorry for not considering your feelings or at least warning you about any of this."

What mom did was stupid and reckless, but…she was actually penitent and knew the full extent of her deeds. Mom cared, which is something I couldn't say for most parents who'd screw up and guilt you into forgiving them.

"…" I deeply inhaled and sighed. Scratching my head, I quickly got up from my seat and walked over to sit next to mom. "Lukey?" She jumped in surprise once I wrapped her in a tight bear hug.

"I'm only peeved with what you did, mom." I muttered into her chest. "I could never be mad at you, so don't beat yourself up over it too much. Just a bit."

"O-Okay…" She sniffled and shakily laughed.

"J-Just…" I started, shaking my head a bit against her body to wipe away some of my own tears. "Next time give me a heads up or share what's bothering you so you don't have to carry the burden alone. We're family and family sticks together."

"O-Of course, sweetie." Mom hiccupped and turned her body around to hug me deeper into her chest. "I'll promise to do better and do right by you boys." You already do that, but it reassures me that you're reinforcing your actions by acknowledging this mistake.

"Love you, mom."

"Love you too, Lukey."

We stayed there hugging each other for a while longer and talking about what happened now after that awkward dinner. Mom had assured me that Giovanni wouldn't be coming over at his leisure and actually needed her permission to call him over, unless either Ash or me would call on him ourselves. He had given mom his own private phone number and all his contacts, but I was never going to ever use them.

Ash on the other hand would, which is why mom and I decided not to reveal anything about Giovanni until he was old enough. My "innocence" was technically gone after Giovanni almost killed me, so Ash should be spared such knowledge of our uncle almost knocking me off. I didn't want to taint his childhood with hatred. Like mom, he was really messed up when he saw how terrible I looked after Viridian Gym.

Today, he'll only remember Giovanni as that cool Gym Leader with the cool Persian that played with him and nothing else.

So, it relieved me that this was possibly Giovanni's first and hopefully last visit to our home.

Mom promised me that she would never call on Giovanni and should a rare day come when she must, then she'll call on me immediately just so we don't have a repeat of tonight. After that, we just settled into peaceful silence in each other's presence.

Until mom asked me a question that had me stuck frozen and trapped in her steel tight arms. "Say Lukey, I've been meaning to ask you this, but…how exactly did you suspect Giovanni of being apart of Team Rocket, and WHY did you still find it in yourself to still confront him with that knife Ranger Gabe gave you."

"…I…" I stuttered with my words before heavily sighing. "I-I'm sorry, mom." And it looks like even with my mental age being more mature than my physical one, I'm still as capable of fucking up like everyone else.

Now there was an easy answer for that first part without revealing my meta-knowledge, I just explained how it was all a guess on my part since Viridian City, the city with the strongest Gym, held the most disappearance rate for trainers. It was fishy how this went unsolved for so long like the missing trainers from Saffron City, who "mysteriously" turn up at the end of every Circuit with their memories of their kidnapping mysteriously gone.

So, I squeezed my way out of that headache, but couldn't find an excuse for why I had to face Giovanni for my eighth badge. Mom was downright disappointed and mad at me for my lack of a reason to willingly throw myself into arm's reach of a possible danger that was making trainers disappear while ignoring her warnings about staying cautious in Viridian City at the beginning of my journey.

She expected me to be better and to inform her of any choices that I felt would be a danger to my health.

And…that's fair.

To be honest, I was too exhausted and stressed with my journey to even consider another Gym to face. I could have gone to a minor gym for a badge, but I didn't. I wanted to face Giovanni for the Earth Badge, and knew that something fishy would happen to me if I went since I owned some "rare" pokémon like a Togekiss and Electavire that aren't normally seen in Kanto. Still a part of me did hope that nothing bad would happen.

In hindsight, I really did screw up, and had to apologize to mom for making her worry and to better my risk assessment for the future. Once we said our good nights after one last tight hug, I bid my pokémon good night as well before shambling up to my room to collapse onto my bed.

Today was certainly a day…

…

…

…

I blankly looked at my ceiling and sighed in exhaustion before looking at the pokeball that was given to me by that "she/her" whoever they were that Giovanni said were impressed with my actions pertaining to the Laramies.

With him gone and my chat with mom over, I can now clearly see so many red flags with how he exactly knew where I was today. I'll write Lara later and see if things are fine, but now I have another person/thing to worry about. Like Giovanni possibly not being Team Rocket's leader and Madame Boss possibly being worse than him.

Gimme a break…

…

…

Dad's diary…I…don't think I'll look into it. Mom was super supportive of whatever choice I made and told me to take my time, but…

I'm fine with how things are. No need to go the extra mile to prove that dad wasn't a…wasn't a…bad person.

…

…

…

"That Tediursa must be healed by now. I should go check on them tomorrow, maybe go out and have some fun." I drearily muttered to myself. "Fun…I wonder…if Daisy would be free tomorrow." Hanging out with her sounds like it'd be fun, and it would be nice to talk to her about…things.

Reaching for my fun on my desk nearby, I kept reaching out in the darkness for and just as one of my fingers tapped the device's screen, another accidentally tapped the pokéball that Giovanni left for me and rolled it off of the desk.

"Crap." I groaned, tiredly pulling myself out of bed to pick it up, but to my surprise the device's "release" function triggered with the fall and in a flash of light, emerged a small creature. They alertly looked around my dark room before their curious red gaze fell onto me.

Met with the revelation of the pokémon who stood before me with queries on how Giovanni or this "she/her" person was even able to access this rare species in Kanto, and the major context for even having that sort of access in the first place, I frustratedly scratched my hair and tiredly moaned.

"Fuck! Why is everything so bothersome after a single night with that fucking bastard?" I angrily pinched my nose and hissed out much to the confusion of the curious pokémon.

"…?"