FicWad

The guilty and the innocent,
Chapter two
Mechanics of Profit

"Stop drumming your feet boy, it's undignified."

"Yes, sir."

The boy stilled his feet with a sheepish smile. That smile was met with a glare. Realizing his mistake the boy of eleven sporting wild brown hair and warm black eyes dropped the gesture. The hard black eyes of his sir turned away from him, gazed at contempt at the world around them. There were two long tables tangled with wires and flashing bits of metal. His Father might of found them dull but they looked interesting enough, especially when a few of the more worn wires spat out false stars of electricity! He leaned forward in his seat to watch, knowing that if he gave into the impulse to walk over he'd be beat black and blue. He did not see one of those eyes flick to him, read his interest, and glitter with scorn.

Being the proper authority figure in the boy's life Raphael Giovanni did his best upon seeing the interest to crush it.

"Junk, toss off computer parts scavenged from the local trash heap."

The child knew the hidden rebuke, hid his curiosity by looking at the sun warmed hardwood floors intently. Pleased Raphael gazed at the watch strapped to his wrist, drummed his fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair and looked around the room in building anger. He'd have been less pleased could he pick out and see the defiant strain that tainted his son's thoughts. Of the building curiosity, of the wonder of what a scientist could be building with nuts, bolts, bits of computer chips, and all those other wonderful things scattered on the table. Looking up the boy stared at the strange orange thing in the wall, frowned, and greatly daring tugged on his father's sleeve.

"D- Sir, what's that?"

Raphael would pound him into next weak if he made the mistake of being a child and calling him Dad, hearing the small lapse the man considered doing just that, but decided to answer the question.

"A telephone, unlike the one in my office you can not see the person speaking, it only carries the voice of the speaker."

"Oh."

"It's primitive trash, only the poor use them."

"Yes sir, only the poor use telephones."

Seeing his lesson hit home Raphael drummed his fingers against the arm. They had come ten minuets early; the door had been left open for them. They were early yet in Raphael's eyes the wait was proof that the man was incompetent and lazy. It wasn't fair exactly, and it gave a lot of time for looking around. There were books, books everywhere. All the walls that could hold them did. All the book shelves were stuffed, books were piled on top of the shorter bookshelves, they were a hodgepodge of what ever had been on sale at the time, and while it looked as his father called it 'tacky' he liked it. It may look sloppy but it was a change from the pristine organized and stifling world of the elite he had come from.

"You would think we were poor fodder, I refuse to be this uncomfortable."

Storming across the room the elder of the Giovanni's took a rolling cushioned chair, was he… no he took it for himself. The boy dared not sigh with regret, so he didn't. Shifted in the hard chair and since his father wasn't paying him much mind looked to the plant right by his chair. It was a small plant, he'd never seen anything like it, it was green with veins of red and gold. He reached out, stroked one of the leaves, and the leaf bobbled up and down at his touch. It was springy, but it wasn't plastic. He smiled, tapped it, and it wiggled in response.

"Do you remember what I told you?"

"Yes sir."

"Fighting or earth, and if he has neither then just pick something and I'll give you a real pokemon when we head back."

"Yes sir."

"What are the only virtues, boy?"

"Strength and monetary value are the only virtues in a pokemon."

"In anything." Raphael corrected. "To have attachments beyond that is?"

"Weakness."

"Maybe you aren't as worthless as I thought."

The man growled, seeing his son crack a smile at the plant and poke it yet again a scowl touched his face.

"Stop that, you are a Giovanni!"

The hand descended and his ears rang from the hit, he knew better to cry, he would be hit more if he cried.

So he never cried because he didn't dare.


X


"Professor, you shouldn't be walking, the doctor said…"

"Tracy, thank you for your concern, but I am well aware of my limits. You don't live to see my crotchety age of fifty three without learning your limits."

"Professor…" The boy sighed, "Let me get the…"

"Tracy, I need you to go back to the fields and stay there a few hours. Spend some time with the Pidgy with his broken wing, he likes your company."

"Leave you… with him…" The boy sputtered.

"You sound like I was asking you to leave me with an infuriated Charizard rubbed in oil."

"Well, I'd feel more comfortable, there's something about him that…"

"Ah he gave you the cold shoulder I take it. Trust me my young friend, he won't hurt me, we've known each other a long long time. I imagine after hearing I was hurt he almost broke his neck getting here he ran so fast." An age roughened voice broke out into a laugh. "Just, to make things easier on him and me, allow me a day to myself. He is capable of taking care of me if I need, which I assure you from the stance given to me by years of experience that I am fine."

"But…"

"And if you could perhaps stay with Mrs. Katchem tonight, that would be the best for us both."

"Alright, if that's what you want."

"Thank you, well you best get going, I can handle on measly door on my own."

"Merow!" Persian head butted his leg and Giovanni smiled slightly, allowed the armor to slid down just a little and walked across the room, reached out, and opened the door. The older man on the other side widened his eyes in surprise then smiled. A smile was the norm for Oak as the icy façade was Giovanni's norm.

Tracy, greatly daring, stared at them both, doubt in his open eyes.

"Professor," Giovanni inclined his head, stared into those steel hue eyes that had nothing of the hardness of the metal about them. His experienced eyes flicked across the man, bandages were hidden by the red shirt and the white lab coat, but still he could see the path they wound around his elder's chest. More obvious was the cast around the left leg, and the crutches that were tucked under both arms.

"Giovanni, it has been ages."

"Indeed, boy, don't you have work to do?"

The boy named Tracy gulped and wisely ran off.

"Please, be a little colder to my aid, I believe having a hall coated in ice would make things much easier on me. I could slide back and forth in stead of hop."

"Let us start again." Giovanni smiled his warmest smile. "Sam, it has been ages."

"Too many ages Leo; and you're showing some grey, it looks very dignified on you."

Giovanni chuckled, ran a hand through his hair self consciously.

"Men in my family grey faster then most, though you should be the one to talk."

"Too much work." The older man ran a hand through his mainly gray hair, hints of light brown threaded the mainly grey locks. "Plus a twelve year head start on you Leo, I have an excuse." The last ended in a pained hiss.

"Of course," Giovanni decided social rank be damned, snatched the black rolling chair and dragged it to the old man. "Sit."

"I am fine."

"Sit." Giovanni glared, when he did so only the bravest, or stupidest did not obey.

Oak wisely sat in the offered chair. Giovanni snatched the crutches propped them against the nearest book shelf, then closed the door Oak had entered from. He stood over the older man, shook his head, and they said nothing for a while, both savoring the other's presence as visits between them both were very rare.

"Sorry sorry… I didn't mean to be late!" A young man of twenty some years dashed through the door, his stained lab vest only held on by one arm flapped behind him. "Am I late… no wait you're early! Nice to meet you, I am Samuel Oak, and you two must be… Ah the Giovanni's right?"

A hand was offered and with a slight grimace Raphael gripped it in his own.

The younger Giovanni's enthusiasm made up for it. There was something about this man who bubbled happiness that made it a tiny catchy. Seeing his father's gaze on him he tried to muffle the interest and something flashed in Oak's eyes. He saw the suppression of emotion and let go of the young boy's hand.

"Normally I offer parent to go in with their children to see what pokemon I have, as becoming a Trainer is something of a family affair at this age…"

"I'll wait here, he knows what to do."

Oak rose an eyebrow, frowned just a tiny bit, then nodded.

"Alright then. Come along, this way young man."

The door opened and the younger Giovanni met his father's cold eyes.

Remember, his father mouthed to him.

Then the door closed.

"So…." The young man seemed rather uncomfortable by his lack of childish enthusiasm. "Do you have a name?"

"I have a name!" He flared, nose sticking up in the air in arrogance. "Leonardo Giovanni."

"Hmmm all I see," Oak pinched the nose and bought it down. "Is that you shouldn't do that too often, what if your nose is dirty?"

Despite himself Leonardo giggled rubbed his nose.

"That's a little better." The man paused in their slow walk to worm his arm through the final hole. "So why do you want to become a trainer?"

Leonardo blinked, father had said that the man would just hand him a pokemon, and that there wouldn't be any kinds of questions at all!

"Ummm well D- er Raphael's a trainer so I wanna be like him and be one too?"

"That sounds like a question, not an answer."

"Ummm…"

"I think," The older man looked at him strangely. "We'll both have our answers once we get down this long hall. I swear one of these days I'm going to get a Vaporeon and just flood this hall so I can swim down it instead of walk, much faster don't you think?"

Leonardo thought it over. It did sound a lot faster and fun too. "Blizzard, water it and then ice and you can slide real fast!"

"Now there's an idea, why didn't I think of that before?"


"Well…" Oak hissed as he hopped down the hall, there were little comforts in the greeting room, mainly there was no ice, and being a primarily earth and fighting type trainer Giovanni did not have the means to make ice. "It's never seemed this long before."

"That's what you said the last time you were hurt."

Catching the pained tone Samuel looked up, stared at his old friend intently.

"Leo, you aren't at fault. The Rockets do what they will. They are lawless, selfish, and a complete sociopathic, organization. You can't save me all the time; and I'll admit I did lose my head a bit and did the stupidest thing ever."

"You, you are never stupid old friend." Giovanni tried to smile. "You read too much to be stupid."

"I bopped an Arbok on the snout with a rock when it had my leg wrapped up. Add to the fact that when a woman said your pokemon or your leg I said… well a few things I'm not too proud of."

"You cussed her out." Leo blinked. "I never knew you could swear."

"I'm surprisingly fluent in the profanity dialect I've had a very good teacher."
Leo chuckled at the reference to himself and Samuel smiled around his pain.

"I swear Leo, getting you to smile and laugh is like pulling teeth from an angry Charizard."

"You've made several mentions of Charizard's already, what new discovery have you worked out now?"

Oak laughed at that. "I'm as transparent as glass I see. No earth shaking discovery, not yet, but I'm making a study of the residue of their fire breath. It seems as if mixed in the ashes is large amount of nitrogen."

"That might explain the larger explosion then scientists calculate that occurs when the fire breath encounters something flammable."

"It might, but I'm working on making it into a fertilizer. Nitrogen is actually beneficial to most floras."

"But to make it, wouldn't you lose a great deal of healthy land?"

"Thinking in terms of negative profits already?"

"I am a business man." Giovanni scolded in a tone that to others would seem a bit cold, to Oak who knew him well enough he could read the 'gentle' rebuke that it was supposed to be.

"Imagine using it on areas set up to be already burned to prevent over growth, they're doing that near Celedon and a few other more populous regions."

"Now that has possibilities…"

"I can hear you counting the money already, be quieter about it if you would, it can get deafening sometimes."

"I'll keep it to myself." Giovanni smirked. "If you keep the mental squealing of, 'I finally found something new before Elm did in the last three years!' to yourself."

"I was excited," Oak said in a pained tone. "And how was I supposed to know it was two a clock at New Bark, or that you were even staying at that town? Or that you would be holding a board meeting at that hour?"


"Business does not have a descent schedule, an emergency cropped up and I had little choice but to gather the head of my staff over to tend to it."

"Is it always business?" Samuel asked.

To that simple question Leo sighed.

"Most of the time, yes, it is."

"Has there ever been something that you didn't do for business?" Oak wondered more to himself then to Giovanni.

In response Giovanni pointed to his Persian, and that was response enough.