Special flashback edition!
9. Letter
"Everyone open your books to page 586, and we can continue where we left off yesterday..."
As the rest of Celadon High School's sophomore Literature class pored over Act IV of Hamlet, Giovanni lovingly put the finishing touches on a note he'd been writing earlier. It was a short poem he'd written for a friend, nothing more, and not the best in the world- but he supposed it'd do. He looked over the desk next to him at Sebastian, who was dutifully taking notes, and tried to get his attention. Sebastian gave him a nasty look, then returned to his work. It looked like directly passing it over to him was clearly out of the question. Although they were best friends- Giovanni had met Sebastian through his parents, who were scientists working for his mother- the two couldn't be any more different, at least in terms of study habits. Sebastian rarely had time to do anything but study, and with good reason- if you lacked the money to get into Kanto's most prestigious university, then the next best thing to do was impress them, and that was clearly Sebastian's intent. The last thing on his mind right now was some stupid rambling from his friend's pen.
Undaunted, Giovanni brushed his dark brown hair out of his face and turned to the girl sitting between the two of them. "Hey," he said, flirtatiously, "would you pass this over to Sebastian for me, gorgeous?"
"Creep," she replied, disgusted, taking the note from him.
"Passing notes, are we?" The letter had been intercepted by the teacher, who had snatched it up before it even had a chance to get near Sebastian's desk. "Care to share this with the class, Mr. Medici?"
Giovanni smirked. "Certainly, ma'am."
17. Leader
The girl looked up at her father with sad eyes. "But Father, I'm older! Why can't I take over things when you're gone?" The man sighed, annoyed. How many times did the he have to go through this with her?
"I've explained this to you before, Sophia. I'm not going to let a woman just try and run Team Rocket once I'm gone like that. I just... can't."
"Why not? I'm just as capable as him, aren't I? Is there anything he can do that I can't?" Tears welled up in her eyes, despite her attempts to fight them.
"Look, dear, you're just... it wouldn't be safe. All those men..."
"If they tried to do anything, I'd see to it they were taken care of," she snapped. "Look at him," she said, referring to her younger brother, who was still asleep in his bed, following a nasty fit of coughing. "That brother of mine... he's sick all the time. It'll be a miracle if he's even alive five years from now."
"Don't say things like that, Sophia," her father said, angered by her prediction. "We've got the best doctors we could find tending to him. He'll live a long life. Then we'll see what we can do."
"-And if he lives that long, you really expect him to be able to lead? The stress alone will kill him, Father!"
Sophia's father had heard enough.
"I don't want to hear any more of this, you ungrateful girl. Be thankful you have what you do, or I'll see to it you don't. Now, get out of here," he snarled.
"Yes, Father," she muttered under her breath, leaving his office in a huff.
18. Bare
The stupid human.
The Persian had been sitting there, trying to recover from its wounds, and the next thing it knew, some stupid human had to come and try to... heal it. At first, Persian didn't know how to react- it was in pain, after all. But still... this was a human, and weren't humans what got it into this mess? Weren't humans the ones who took personal offense to it's pack's need for food, and responded by running them out of town and having them rounded up, then loaded into a dark van? Weren't humans the ones it had just escaped from?
The cat hissed at the human boy, hoping it would get the hint. The boy backed away nervously, then slowly approached Persian again, offering it some food. This was clearly a trap. Persian bared its claws and teeth, hissing even louder. Clearly not afraid, the boy moved in closer. "Please," he said, "I don't mean to hurt you."
So the filthy human wouldn't leave. He was left with no choice. "Rrrrow..." The Persian bit the boy's hand, sinking its teeth deeply into the flesh. "Rrrrrrrr..."
The boy winced from the pain. "Bad kitty," he said. "Is this really how you're going to thank me? After I bring you food and try to rescue you?" he asked, looking away from his bleeding hand. Damn, it hurt. "Now, let go of my hand."
Although it went against Persian's best instincts, he did so, though he didn't understand why. Something about the human's voice... just seemed to persuade him.
"I suppose you don't want me as your trainer then," the human said, wrapping his hand in a handkerchief. "I guess I'll just be going, then."
To the boy's, and Persian's, surprise, Persian didn't stay there. Quite the opposite, he followed him all the way home.
He never left the human's side after that.
19. Poison.
She couldn't believe it. Rather, she didn't want to believe it. It was probable enough- when you were that powerful, people were bound to get a little jealous, and maybe try to relieve you of that power by any means necessary- but her own boyfriend? And she didn't believe it at first, until she'd listened in on one of his phone conversations via wiretap...
The woman felt a mix of betrayal and shock as she remembered exactly what she'd heard over the line that evening. He'd prepared a complex plan to get rid of her and stage a hostile takeover... There was no way she was going to let him get away with this...
"Honey? Is there something you were wanting to tell me?" She returned to reality as her boyfriend called to her from across her dining room table, where the two were enjoying, for the time, a dinner together. "Oh, yes dear... I was just thinking, this would be much nicer if we had some candles on the table... why don't you run out to the living room and get those candles off the coffee table? Oh, and some matches..."
But she loved him so much... but no, he was a traitor to her, and she couldn't allow him to live... not if she wanted to... Her scientists had told her it was completely painless, that it was fast acting, he'd be gone in about two minutes with the proper dose...
The boyfriend fetching the necessary table decorations, she pulled the small vial out of her pocket and emptied its contents into his glass of wine. He returned with the candles, then sat down.
"You're right, dear. This is much nicer," he said, drinking his wine.
She smiled. He wouldn't know what hit him.