Kanto region, Team Rocket headquarters.
In a spacious office, Giovanni sat behind his desk, holding a research report that had just been delivered.
At his feet, Persian lay on the soft carpet, yawning lazily.
"Boss, this is what Jessie and the others sent."
A Team Rocket executive placed an elegantly wrapped gift box on the desk and handed over a recommendation letter.
Giovanni looked up.
"Jessie?"
"Yes, along with James and Meowth."
Hearing those three names, Giovanni put down the report.
Of course he remembered those subordinates.
Especially that Meowth who could speak human language-he certainly counted as quite a rare Pokémon.
However, the mission reports those three had submitted lately were rather hard to describe.
They either failed to catch their target or damaged their equipment, and occasionally requested some inexplicable funding.
And now they had actually taken the initiative to send him a gift?
Giovanni was somewhat surprised.
"Open it."
"Yes."
The executive unwrapped the gift box and took out a beautifully bound manga, along with a recommendation letter covered in writing.
Giovanni's gaze lingered on the manga's cover for a moment.
"Pokémon Adventures."
"A manga?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"Have they really had that much time on their hands lately?"
For a moment, the executive did not know how to answer.
After all, those three members did often do things that were difficult to understand.
Giovanni took the recommendation letter and briefly scanned it.
[Dear Giovanni:]
[While carrying out an important mission, we happened to discover an extremely valuable manga!]
[This manga fully demonstrates Team Rocket's formidable strength, and portrays you as a wise, mighty, and supremely imposing leader!]
[We believe this work could effectively boost morale among the organization's members and deserves your personal attention!]
Three names were prominently written at the bottom.
Jessie, James, and Meowth.
After reading it, Giovanni fell silent for a moment.
"Boost morale?"
"..."
The executive beside him struggled to maintain a serious expression.
Giovanni placed the letter back on the desk, not particularly angry.
Having managed Team Rocket for years, he had seen all kinds of subordinates.
Some excelled at research, some were skilled at carrying out missions, and naturally, there were a few who liked to play clever little tricks.
He could more or less guess what Jessie and the others were thinking.
They simply wanted to earn some rewards by currying favor with him.
"Well, it's rare for them to put in this kind of thought."
Giovanni offered the casual remark.
Then he picked up the manga.
Originally, he only intended to flip through a few pages to see just what those three subordinates were up to.
But as he flipped through it, his movements suddenly slowed.
In the manga, a group of people in black uniforms stood inside a Secret Base.
A striking red letter was printed on their chests.
R.
Giovanni's gaze sharpened slightly.
Naturally, he could not have been more familiar with that symbol.
Team Rocket.
Moreover, the uniforms those people wore in the manga were actually very similar to Team Rocket's real uniforms.
"Interesting."
Giovanni turned a page.
In the panels, several Team Rocket members were carrying out a mission.
Some were responsible for commanding Pokémon, others for operating equipment, and still others for providing support.
Although the actual course of the operation was highly exaggerated, it was clear that the author had put considerable thought into it.
In particular, Team Rocket in the manga was not merely a few small-time grunts causing trouble everywhere.
It had a large membership, as well as an internal chain of command.
Its executives each handled different assignments, and the Pokémon they could deploy each had their own distinguishing features.
Giovanni leaned back in his chair and continued reading.
As Team Rocket's real leader, he could naturally tell that many details in the manga did not hold up to scrutiny.
Some of the equipment did not exist in reality, and some mission arrangements seemed far too risky.
But he had to admit that this manga artist seemed to understand how to portray an underground organization.
At least it was much better than works that depicted villains as idiots who did nothing but shout.
"Boss?"
Seeing that he had remained quiet for so long, the executive beside him could not help asking.
"Is there something wrong with this manga?"
"Not so far."
Giovanni answered evenly.
"It's quite well drawn."
As he spoke, he turned a few more pages.
Soon, a familiar face came into view.
It was a middle-aged man wearing a suit.
The man sat upright behind a large desk, his expression composed and his gaze sharp.
A Persian also lay at his feet.
Giovanni stopped turning the pages.
"..."
He looked down at the manga.
Then he glanced at the Persian at his feet.
"Persian."
"Meow?"
Persian lazily raised his head.
Giovanni tilted the manga slightly.
"Take a look at this."
Persian leaned closer and immediately became interested upon seeing the elegantly posed Pokémon in the panel.
"Meow!"
He extended a paw and lightly touched the page.
Giovanni smiled.
"It does look quite like you."
His tone remained calm.
However, when his gaze fell on the character introduction below the panel, that trace of a smile gradually faded.
[Team Rocket's leader-Giovanni.]
The office fell quiet.
Noticing the change in Giovanni's expression, the executive beside him instinctively straightened.
"Boss?"
Giovanni did not answer.
He stared at that line for several full seconds.
Then he turned back to the earlier pages and carefully checked the identities of those Team Rocket members.
Sabrina.
Lt. Surge.
Koga.
And more characters, some familiar and some unfamiliar.
All these people had connections to Team Rocket in the manga.
He also knew something about the real identities of some of those characters.
Sabrina, for instance.
Saffron City's Gym Leader, who possessed extremely powerful psychic abilities.
Then there was Lt. Surge, Vermilion City's Electric-type Gym Leader.
As for Koga of the Fuchsia Gym, he was also a trainer of considerable strength.
Giovanni naturally knew that in reality, those people did not have that sort of superior-subordinate relationship with his organization.
The manga clearly contained a great deal of fiction.
Yet that was precisely what made the situation before him somewhat delicate.
The author could easily have created an unfamiliar villainous leader.
Why choose him, of all people?
Even the name and Persian were exactly the same.
Giovanni continued turning the pages.
His manga counterpart presided over Team Rocket headquarters, listened to reports from executives, assigned missions, and demonstrated considerable skill as a Pokémon trainer.
By this point in the story, the character named Giovanni had clearly been established as Team Rocket's supreme leader.
He controlled the entire organization's operations and had also become connected to the adventures of the protagonist, Red.
Giovanni put down the manga and reached out to stroke Persian's head.
"I see."
His voice was quiet.
Seeing this, the executive beside him finally could not help asking, "Boss, do you know this manga artist?"
"Take a look."
Giovanni pushed the manga over.
The executive took it and looked where he indicated.
A few seconds later, the executive's expression changed abruptly.
"This..."
He raised his head, his face full of disbelief.
"Boss, why are you in here?"
Giovanni did not answer immediately.
The executive hurriedly flipped a few more pages.
The more he read, the more cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
The Team Rocket leader in the manga looked far too much like the Giovanni before him.
Even his name had not been changed!
Most importantly, the manga actually stated outright that Giovanni was Team Rocket's leader!
"Boss!"
The executive put down the manga, his expression now serious.
"Something isn't right here."
"Go on."
"You've always operated publicly as the Viridian Gym's Gym Leader. Very few people know your true identity."
The executive looked at the manga's cover.
"But this manga artist actually portrayed you as Team Rocket's leader."
"And in a publicly distributed manga, no less!"
He grew more nervous as he spoke.
"If the author really knows something..."
"Don't get ahead of yourself."
Giovanni raised a hand to interrupt him.
"The identities of the other characters in this manga have also changed significantly."
"Sabrina, Lt. Surge, Koga-they've all been made Team Rocket executives."
"Do you think any of this is credible?"
The executive froze for a moment.
"Well..."
"And these so-called Secret Bases."
Giovanni turned to one of the pages.
"The layouts are exaggerated, and quite a bit of the equipment is entirely made up. Those operational plans certainly look exciting, but if we actually followed them, the League would probably have had its eyes on us long ago."
The executive nodded awkwardly.
"That's true."
Giovanni leaned back in his chair again.
"So this could also just be a coincidence."
As the leader of an underground organization he had run for years, he never rushed to judgment over a single seemingly astonishing incident.
The manga before him certainly deserved attention.
However, it also contained a great deal of fiction.
There was currently no evidence to establish whether the author had happened to guess his identity by accident or had obtained information through some channel.
There was even another possibility.
The manga artist had simply thought the Viridian Gym Leader would make a suitable villainous leader and borrowed that identity.
After all, the other Gym Leaders drawn as executives were ready examples.
"Boss, about this matter..."
The executive asked cautiously.
Giovanni picked up the teacup on his desk and slowly took a sip.
"Check the publisher's information first."
"Understood!"
The executive turned to the manga's copyright page.
The publisher's name and the author's pen name were clearly printed there.
[Author: Masuda Senbei.] [Serializing magazine: Shonen Adventure.] [Place of publication: Celadon City.]
There was also a conspicuous disclaimer about the work.
It stated that the manga's plot had been artistically constructed, and that the identities and organizational affiliations of the people involved were all fictional.
The executive read this information aloud.
After listening, Giovanni looked thoughtful.
"Celadon City?"
"Yes, Boss."
"An interesting place."
Celadon City had thriving commerce, a large population, and a constant flow of people coming and going.
It was hardly strange for a manga artist living there to encounter all sorts of Trainers.
Still, Giovanni had developed some interest in this person named Masuda Senbei.
He opened the manga again and carefully examined the Pokémon battles depicted in its panels.
In particular, one battle between Electric-type Pokémon.
Although the author had clearly taken artistic liberties with the battle, his understanding of move characteristics, how Pokémon moved, and Trainers' on-the-spot judgment was quite good.
"This author has probably been exposed to quite a few Pokémon battles."
Giovanni spoke softly.
"At the very least, he doesn't seem like someone who knows nothing about training."
The executive nodded.
"Boss, should we send someone to make contact with him?"
Giovanni did not agree immediately.
He casually turned to the last page and saw an illustration printed there, created jointly by the author and a Smeargle.
"Smeargle?"
"Apparently, that Smeargle did the artwork for this manga."
Having read the accompanying information included in the package, the executive offered a brief explanation.
Giovanni was slightly surprised.
He had seen Smeargle skilled at painting, but rarely one capable of independently producing such complex images.
Still, this matter did not yet warrant too much of his time and energy.
"Gather information first."
Giovanni folded down a corner of the manga.
"The author's public identity, his previously published works, and who he's been in contact with."
"Especially anything related to Team Rocket."
The executive carefully noted it down.
"Should we notify the people below us?"
"Don't widen the scope for now."
Giovanni's tone was calm.
"This may just be a manga artist's creation. We'll decide once we have a clear understanding."
He did not want to stir up the whole organization over a manga.
Team Rocket currently had plenty of more important matters to handle.
Research projects, Pokémon collection, and the affairs of operational teams in various regions all required more attention than a manga.
Of course, if someone really knew his secret, that would be another matter.
Giovanni raised his eyes and looked at the manga on the desk.
Whatever the author's purpose, depicting a real Gym Leader as Team Rocket's leader did arouse some curiosity.
What was more, the identity he had depicted happened to be real.
At that thought, Giovanni suddenly chuckled.
"Jessie and the others sent us something interesting."
Hearing this, the executive quickly asked, "Then should we send them a reward?"
Giovanni considered it.
"No rush."
"We'll discuss it once the investigation yields results."
The executive nodded in acknowledgment.
Then he put away the recommendation letter and prepared to leave the office.
"Wait."
Giovanni suddenly stopped him.
"Boss, do you have any other instructions?"
"Leave the manga."
The executive paused, then hurriedly put the manga back on the desk.
"Yes!"
The door closed softly.
The office fell quiet again.
Persian rose from the rug, leaped lightly onto the sofa, and found a comfortable spot to lie down again.
Giovanni picked up the manga and turned to the page where he appeared.
The man in the panel had the same face as him and sat behind a broad desk with a commanding expression, a Persian at his feet.
It certainly did look the part.
Giovanni could not help shaking his head.
"Drawing me as Team Rocket's leader..."
"What a bold manga artist."
He continued leafing through a few pages before finally resting his gaze on the author's pen name on the copyright page.
Masuda Senbei.
He had never heard that name before.
But now, he had committed it to memory.
Giovanni closed the manga and picked up the internal communicator on his desk.
"Masuda Senbei..."
He looked at the list of executive investigation contacts before him, his tone as calm as ever.
"Look into this person."