The Life List
Prologue  
	

	The dim lights did nothing to brighten up the lair of Giovanni. They 
merely cast and eerie yellow glow in the darkness. There were no windows and no 
contact with the outside world. Within these walls only stood a burly guard, a 
tall elegant man with a Persian, and a young boy. Despite the ghostly shadows 
and the aura of evil the boy felt most at home in this room. He had been here 
many times in the course of his fifteen years and he would come many more times. 
The man in the elegant suit turned towards him. His suit was of the finest 
quality; red silk with gold buttons. His shoes were the darkest black. They were 
even blacker than the room. In them the boy’s pale, pointed face was visible. 
The boy longed to reach out and tough the suit. Feel the softness of the silken 
fabric. Touch the smooth toughness of the black leather. He longed to tough 
those golden buttons that shone through the gloom. Their faces shone with 
luster. 
	Though he wished to do all those things, oh how he wanted to, he 
refrained. Someday he told himself, I will have a suit that is sleeker, buttons 
that are more gleaming and shoes that are shinier. Just as someday I will be 
more powerful than Giovanni himself. He immediately stamped those thoughts from 
his head. How could he think that? Giovanni was witty, sophisticated, strong and 
brilliant. No one could ever be as strong as he. Giovanni turned to look at him. 
He was smoking a pipe which gave off a sweat. Woodsy sent. The boy had grown up 
with that scent and loved it. He longed to smoke a pipe too. Giovanni smiled at 
him. It was a dark, devious smile of someone plotting something. The boy had 
grown up with that smile and loved it too. Giovanni’s dark eyes were light up, 
as if he had finally conceived a plan. He looked perfect as he always did. Not a 
hair out of place.
	“Brilliant isn’t it?” No wonder Lance let him keep his gym when he was 
hardly ever there. His voice was as silken as his clothes. It seemed to purr 
like his Persian which was asleep at his feet. His voice flowed like a river. 
Someday the boy told himself, I will have a voice that allows me to get away 
with everything.   
	“Brilliant” Giovanni said again “simply brilliant!”
	The boy tried his new voice “what is brilliant, Master?”   
	Giovanni ignored him and shook his head. He looked absolutely delighted. 
Like a child on Christmas morning. The boy waited patiently knowing that 
Giovanni would soon tell him. Sure enough Giovanni began to explain.
	“I have conceived a plan.”
	The boy waited eagerly for his master to speak. The plan would be 
brilliant. Every plan Giovanni thought of was brilliant.
	“You know the problem I have had with err…shall we say faulty agents?”
	This was true. The quality of Team Rocket agents seemed to have gone down 
in the past years. No longer did they have intelligent, strong agents but they 
had bumbling idiots. They were no longer people helping Giovanni take over the 
world but kids in need of a free meal. How hard could it be to steal Pokemon? 
They thought.
	Giovanni continued “someday my dear boy I will die and you will take 
over.” This horrified him. Giovanni dead? But alas it would happen. “You will 
take over for me and be the leader of Team Rocket. I have faith in you!” The boy 
was honored at those words. “But you will need a few key Rockets who can help 
you. Who will always do your bidding. They must be smart and strong. They must 
be able to think quickly and well. These agents will be your 2nd in command. You 
will consult in them and when the time comes to take control. They will be by 
your side leading armies. They will be to you what Melli and Fred are to me!”
	The boy felt a pang of jealousy at those names. Fred Shoshane and Melli 
Smith were Giovanni’s 2nd in command. They were the best of the best. They knew 
all of what was going on in Team Rocket. Some of which was a secret even to him. 
	“Also” said Giovanni “you will need and pupil of your own. That is a 
problem. People of the same quality of Melli and Fred will be nearly impossible 
to find.”
	“I bet you have a plan” said the boy.
	Giovanni laughed “you flatter me. But it is true. I do have a plan. You 
must tell no one. Not even Melli and Fred.”
	The boy was breathless. He was about to receive information that would not 
reach even Giovanni’s most trusted. There was a guard in the room. But the 
guards were expertly trained. They heard nothing, saw nothing, and knew nothing. 
They were not people, merely part of the wall. Their only purpose was to protect 
Giovanni. 
	“Melli and Fred have feelings for each other” Giovanni articulated. Most 
would be disgusted at this beginning, but the boy knew it would lead somewhere. 
Indeed it did.
	“They haven’t realized it and even if they did they would put work first. 
That is part of the reason why they are great Rockets. But if they were to have 
children, those children would be as brilliant as they were… times 2.”
	The boy began to understand “You want them to uhh… breed.”
	“For lack of better words, yes. They must fall in love and have children. 
Those children will be perfect. I am sure that I can do it. They are already in 
love. I can tell. All they have to do is have one child and you have an 
assistant. 2 children and you have an apprentice. More than that; Team Rocket 
will be amazing. Do you see?”
	The boy shook his head “yes I see!”


Four years and 11 months later…

	Melli stroked her baby’s head. She had a slight fever and Melli had been 
up all night with worry. The small apartment was no place to raise a baby but it 
was all she had. She kissed her darling baby’s forehead and wondered if this 
would be the last night with her. She asked herself that every night. Every 
morning she feared that Team Rocket would come to take the child away. That was 
what they had done to her last child, Zeke. She still saw him but he was no 
longer hers. He was Giovanni’s. She and Fred had always loved each other. They 
knew they could never marry or leave Team Rocket but the unthinkable happened. 
One night Melli and Fred had spent the night in Giovanni’s room because of 
construction. It had started as a kiss and ended in a night of passion. A few 
weeks later Melli found out she was with child. She went to Giovanni and he had 
surprised her. He had allowed her and Fred to wed. On one condition. Their child 
would belong to him. They had agreed and he had taken her darling Zeke. She had 
begged and fought but he was taken. He looked into her newest child’s eyes. They 
were dark brown like her fathers. 
	“Saidee!” she cried. Her beautiful girl would be taken. She could not bear 
the loss of another child. This time she told herself she would not let them. 
She had only promised them her first child and this was her second. 
	“Oh Saidee” she said. “You will be safe. I will keep you safe even if it 
costs me my life.” 



Disclaimer- I do not own Pokemon. 
I would really appreciate some reviews, thanks.