Chapter Text
Rainbow Rocket Castle, Alola
Commotion was all too common in Rainbow Rocket’s Castle. Confusing arrays of warp panels meant to confuse any intruding ten year olds were abundant, so no one ever quite knew how to get to where they wanted to go. The original plan was to have Cyrus’s and Archie’s rooms on the upstairs and downstairs, respectively, of the west wing of the castle while Maxie and Lysandre’s sat on the downstairs and upstairs of the east wing. However, Ghetsis had immediately made it clear that he was not too happy about being made to sleep on the cold floor of the main room, deeming it to be ‘unfit for a king’. So, Giovanni had turned the rooming situation on its head and moved Archie into Maxie’s room and Ghetsis into Archie’s old room. The problem was therefore solved. Or so Giovanni thought. The walls had always been thin, and now every single night Giovanni had been forced to hear the sound of Maxie screeching furiously and Archie laughing rambunctiously in return. And now every single morning Ghetsis and Lysandre would emerge in the worst of moods with dark bags under their eyes and snap angrily at anyone who dared to so much as speak. Overall team productivity was at an all time low. Meetings were hosted to no avail; no one could work in these kinds of conditions. If Giovanni was being completely honest, he needed a break badly. So, one particularly miserable night, he hatched a plan. A horrible plan, sure, but a carefully thought out plan nonetheless.
The six members of Team Rainbow Rocket take up various positions around a long table. Giovanni sits at the head, examining his comrades - he would never call them friends - closely. Cyrus sits to his left, staring vacantly at a blank wall. Ghetsis sits to Giovanni’s right, shaking a fist and ranting about something or other - presumably how he could never get any sleep in this damned place and how Unova was superior. To Ghetsis’s right sits Lysandre, carefully examining each one of his nails as if he is bored. To Cyrus’s right sit Maxie and Archie - who, for reasons completely unknown to Giovanni, refuse to sit anywhere but right next to the other, even though they swear to despise each other. The dark curtains are drawn, blocking out the cheery Alola sun. A large whiteboard sits on one wall, but it is covered in crude doodles. Pinned on the wall behind Giovanni is a large pyramid diagram. A picture of Cyrus staring blankly at the camera is placed at the top. Below that sit pictures of Lysandre posing proudly, Maxie holding up a rock and frowning, and Archie holding up a sharpedo and grinning, respectively. At the very bottom layer of the pyramid, a picture of Ghetsis with a crown drawn atop his head is displayed.
The room is filled with the sound of the members of Rainbow Rocket arguing for a few minutes before the man at the head of the table finally speaks, commanding attention.
“Boys…” Giovanni smiles broadly, gesturing around the table, “we are taking a trip to Sinnoh.”
There is a brief, unheard of silence. Then, chaos erupts around the table.
Archie sucks in a deep breath of air and then cups his hands around his mouth and yells, “ WOOOOOO !!!”
“I don’t understand,” Cyrus says blankly, “why would anyone want to see Sinnoh?”
“Mount Coronet has some interesting geographical features,” Maxie points out, scooting his chair away from Archie, who is still shouting excitedly.
“It is beautiful,” Lysandre murmurs.
“No one wants to see Sinnoh,” Ghetsis grumbles.
Everyone ignores him.
“How are we going to get there?” Maxie asks, always thinking logically.
“We leave in the morning,” Giovanni says, refusing to elaborate further.
In the east wing of Rainbow Rocket’s castle, a redhead throws his collection of various rocks and books into a suitcase the same shade as his vibrant hair while a pirate watches disinterestedly from behind a blue suitcase. A lion haired man is sorting through his clothes and packing toiletries carefully into an orange valise. In the west wing of Rainbow Rocket’s castle, however, a disgraced king throws different items at a green suitcase furiously in an attempt to discern what should be taken and what should not be. A spaceman, meanwhile, stares blankly at a wall, leaving his yellow suitcase entirely untouched. At the heart of Rainbow Rocket’s castle stands a man telling his beloved companion - a prideful persian - that no, she cannot come with him to Sinnoh and that yes, he does still love her dearly. His purple suitcase is situated in the corner of the room - just below a lavish, expensive-looking painting of its owner’s persian - packed and ready to go.
In the morning, as usual, Giovanni is the only one who wakes up on time. He pokes his head into Archie and Maxie’s room, where the two men are curled up together on one of the beds - which there are two of. Giovanni swears that he will never understand them. Are they rivals? Or friends? Or possibly more? He tries to erase the image of the redhead with his face buried in the pirate’s toned chest from his mind, shuddering. Next, he peeks into Ghetsis’s room and throws the nearest object - a cute stuffed deino unfit for a king - at his head. Then, he finds Lysandre’s room and throws a hairbrush at his mane of messy orange hair. Finally, he makes his way to Cyrus’s room, where he finds the man already awake.
“Good morning,” Giovanni says cheerfully, standing in the doorframe.
“Morning,” Cyrus says blankly from his place in his bed. He stares at the intruder of his room. The intruder stares back at him. Eventually, after another moment of bizarre silence and staring intensely into Cyrus’s soulless eyes, Giovanni simply steps out of the galactic room and shuts the door behind him.
In the main room, Giovanni lounges on the couch, sipping a dark coffee quietly and stroking his faithful persian with his free hand. He will miss his persian. He however, will not miss the blazing Alolan heat. Grogginess clouds his mind. The sun hasn’t even risen yet. However slowly, the coffee is moving through his system. Within no time, Giovanni thinks, he should be alert and aware.
Ghetsis is the first to come into the room, stomping aggressively so that the entire household can hear him. He drags a green suitcase behind him, complaining about one thing or another. Giovanni merely watches him behind weary eyes. Next comes Maxie, who looks particularly irritable - more so than usual, that is. He fans his hand over his mouth as he yawns quietly. Eventually, he makes his way over to Ghetsis and simply stands there, staring at him and frowning. Why he should try to make conversation with Ghetsis of all people, Giovanni is not sure. Perhaps it is Maxie’s own tiredness getting to him. Then there is Archie, whistling some song that Giovanni does not know nor does he care to find out. If he had to guess, he would say that it is some type of sea shanty. The pirate’s blue suitcase clunks noisily on the floor as it rolls behind him. He comes to a stop just next to Maxie, who simply glares at him with drowsy eyes and a small frown. Archie tries to talk to Ghetsis to no avail. Meanwhile, Giovanni watches with moderate interest, sipping his drink and scratching behind his pokémon’s ears.
It takes some time for Cyrus to finally make his way into the main room. He strides over to Giovanni and his persian with folded hands, tilting his head and peering down at the duo with slight curiosity.
“It is seven in the morning,” the blue-haired man states vacantly.
“Perfect,” Giovanni narrows his eyes, “We’re making good time.”
He should have never said that; in fact, as soon as the words come out of Giovanni’s mouth, he realizes his mistake. It takes nearly another hour for Lysandre to stride into the main room, fluffing out his blood orange colored hair. The five tired villains all glare daggers at him.
~
The trunk of the Rocket boss's black luxury sedan is hastily stuffed with colorful suitcases. Giovanni seats himself in the comfortable driver’s seat while Cyrus stations himself in the front passenger seat, ready to direct the group to Hau’oli City Airport. Cyrus is quite possibly the only person in the car that Giovanni can stand, if just barely, so the Rocket leader is not too unhappy with this arrangement. Behind Cyrus sits Lysandre, who has halfway drained the large café crème in his hands but has another, identical drink in his lap. The disastrous implications of the caffeine make themselves seen in the way that he bounces his right foot ever so slightly. Behind Giovanni and next to Lysandre sits Ghetsis, who is taking up both the middle seat and the far right seat in an attempt to get comfortable, digging his feet into Lysandre’s side. Lysandre shrieks at Ghetsis, complaining that he needs his personal space, and presses himself to the window nearest to him, trying to get as far away from the (downright repulsive, in the Kalosian’s opinion) man as possible. In the far back sit Maxie and Archie. Maxie is seated behind Lysandre, as close as possible to the window. Archie is seated behind Ghetsis, as close as possible to Maxie and as far as possible from the window.
Without any warning to his passengers, Giovanni steps on the gas pedal of the sedan, lurching the car forward and causing all of the luggage in the back to slide around.
Maxie simply glares pointedly at the driver of the luxury vehicle, too tired to verbalize the discontent bubbling below his surface.
Ghetsis, as per usual, is the first to complain, "What on earth was that for?!"
He sits up straight to seethe in the general direction of the driver's seat. Lysandre lets out a quiet sigh of relief and sips his café crème once more. Giovanni ignores him, taking a turn at sixty miles per hour in an area with a speed limit of forty-five. Cyrus bumps into the car door, however, it doesn't stop him from staring intently at the map of Alola in his hands. Archie, though, is not so lucky; he slides into the redhead seated next to him, nearly crushing the lithe man. Maxie simmers once more. The pirate merely smiles sheepishly, barely moving away from the other man. Ghetsis knocks into Lysandre, causing the Kalosian to spill his coffee all over himself. The Flare leader's face quickly transforms into a grimace as he looks down at his now ruined clothes. His gaze darkens.
"W hy are you driving like an Arceus-damned lunatic?" Lysandre growls at the driver.
"You set us an hour behind schedule !" Giovanni snaps, keeping his eyes on the road.
The fiery man frowns, crossing his arms, and leans back in his seat.
The car of six continues its drive to the Hau'oli City Airport at speeds far beyond what is considered legal.
Hau’oli City Airport, Alola
The group walks into the airport in relative silence, too groggy to even think straight. Giovanni leads the way, as per usual, with Cyrus taking up the back of the group, carrying a small yellow suitcase with him. Lysandre chugs a tall café crème topped with a mountain of foamed milk, pushing his valise along with stylish ease. Ghetsis complains heavily, dragging along an old green suitcase and toting around a brown leather bag. Archie points to a large mural of a school of wishiwashi and grins, pulling a deep oceanic blue suitcase behind him. Maxie strides through the airport by Archie’s side, hauling a velvet red suitcase behind him and a khaki messenger bag over his shoulder, stopping every once in a while to gawk at whatever Archie is pointing at enthusiastically. Finally, they make their way over to a large sign printed with a soaring toucannon that reads “CHECKED LUGGAGE”. Giovanni taps a few buttons on the screen of a kiosk and then distributes tags and slips of paper to his companions.
Cyrus blinks slowly, studying the slip of paper that he has received, “This does not say my name. Who is ‘Iyma Spaysman’?”
Maxie checks his baggage tag and then the slip of paper that he was handed, “Al Coholic?” the redhead growls, “ really, Giovanni?”
Giovanni merely taps a foot, sighing, “Did you seriously think that no one would recognize a group of six criminals boarding their flight?”
Ghetsis scoffs, “I am a king, not a criminal!”
“As far as Alola and the rest of this world knows, you are currently rotting in a prison cell somewhere in Unova, not ruling over your domain with an iron fist,” Giovanni responds irately, tying his baggage tag onto his purple suitcase. Lysandre does the same nearby.
The spaceman frowns slightly, “Surely they will recognize us by our appearances?”
“They won’t recognize Maxie and Archie. I have a plan for the rest of us. Just, don’t worry about it.”
“Mon ami…” Lysandre says, staring down at his plane ticket, “why does this say that we are flying to Unova? Are we not going to Sinnoh?”
The green haired man immediately perks up, forgetting all about the ticket and baggage tag that he currently holds, “What city?”
“Mistralton? Is that how you say it?”
Ghetsis then returns to scowling, kneeling down to put his assigned baggage tag on his luggage, “I hate Mistralton. It’s not even a city. It’s an airport.”
“Relax, we only have a short layover in Mistralton, Unova. Then we’ll be on our way.”
Maxie has already tied his baggage tag to his crimson suitcase, frowning impatiently. Beside him, Archie is knelt down trying to figure out how to put the confusing tag onto the handle of his suitcase. Finally, he gives up, turning to his redheaded friend, “Maxie… help me get this fuckin’ tag on!”
Maxie smirks, “Perhaps if you ask nicely I will.”
“I will not.”
“Is that so? I suppose you won’t be able to go to Sinnoh with us, then.”
“Quit bein’ a douche and help me.”
He scoffs, “I have better things to do.”
Ghetsis snaps, lunging at Archie viciously, “For the love of Arceus, give me that damn tag!”
Lysandre wrinkles his nose, continuing to sip from his fifth frothing café crème, “You all are insufferable.”
The group of six make their way to the baggage check without much difficulty. Archie heaves his large suitcase carelessly onto the conveyor belt, making a clunking noise. Maxie places his red suitcase gingerly and silently on the belt, glaring at the man beside him. Lysandre hands his stylish orange valise to the woman behind the counter, who takes it and then places it on the conveyor belt. Ghetsis then tries to copy Lysandre, but is told to put his suitcase on the belt himself. Grumbling angrily about how he is a king and should be treated as such, he complies. Lastly, Giovanni places his purple suitcase onto the belt, watching as it is whisked away beyond a curtain. He looks back curiously at Cyrus, who is standing a distance away, staring at the group with a small yellow suitcase by his side.
He frowns, walking over to the man, “You didn’t get a baggage tag, did you, Cyrus?”
“No,” the blue-haired man says, gesturing to his luggage, “this is my carry-on.”
Lysandre nods knowingly, “It is always best to pack light.”
Ghetsis shoots him a scathing glare.
~
Giovanni pushes Maxie to the front of the line hastily in an attempt to ‘test the waters’, as he claims. Maxie is not too happy with the phrase that Giovanni has used and is about to say so snarkily when the TSA officer asks for his boarding pass. Hesitantly, the redhead slides the sheet of paper over the counter.
“Al Coholic?” The blue haired officer narrows her eyebrows at the redhead.
Maxie laughs nervously, shooting a dangerous glare over his shoulder at Giovanni, who is trying his best not to lose it, “Unfortunate name, I know.”
The officer frowns, then looks at Maxie, then at the boarding pass, then looks back up at Maxie. The redhead has the urge to strangle Giovanni right then and there. Finally, though, the blue haired TSA officer simply nods and allows Maxie to pass through. The Magma leader glowers at the dark-haired man from behind the metal detectors.
“Nota Pirate?”
“Ima Spaysman?”
“That is me,” Cyrus says, nodding slightly and turning away quickly.
“Lyon Mann?”
“King Ovunova?”
“Wait…” The officer says, “Do I know you from somewhere?”
Ghetsis sweats profusely, clearly nervous, “Um…Do you?”
“You kind of look like the king of Team Plasma in Unova...”
He blanches suddenly, “Do…Do I? Really ? I’ve never been told that!”
“Yeah! You know, N?”
“Oh. N…Yeah. I…know him well,” Ghetsis’s expression immediately sours.
She brightens immediately, “Really!? He’s so cute!!”
“ WHAT ?” He roars.
A dark glare crosses Giovanni’s face and Ghetsis, knowing better than to cross the leader of Team Rainbow Rocket, quickly moves through the security line, joining the rest of his so-called “friends” on the other side.
“Mafioso Kantoh?”
Giovanni quickly tips his fedora over his face, “That’s me,” he says lowly.
Again, the TSA officer gives him a strange look. She shakes her head, sighing, and, after examining his clearly fake ID, allows him to pass through. Giovanni passes through the metal detector with no issue, collecting his bags on the other side of the security belt and rejoining the rainbow motley crew.
“Are you trying to get us put on the no fly list?” Maxie suddenly hisses, turning to lower at Giovanni, “did you see the way she looked at me?”
Giovanni rolls his eyes, “As if we aren’t already on it. You’ve committed multiple acts of eco-terrorism. Lysandre and Cyrus have tried to commit genocide. Hell, Ghetsis even attempted to kill a child.”
Ghetsis perks up and beams, “I’d do it again.”
“That’s not the point!” The redhead snaps, whirling around to point at Giovanni, “you really couldn’t have come up with more convincing names?!”
He only shrugs, “Listen, I came up with those boarding passes in the middle of the night. It worked, didn’t it?”
Maxie is fuming. He stalks dangerously closer to Giovanni. His crimson eyes narrow dangerously as he opens his mouth to speak.
Before he has the chance to argue with the Rocket boss, however, he is suddenly interrupted by a small:
“Um, where’s Cyrus?”
The redhead scowls at his leader before turning back to look for his blue-haired companion, who is nowhere in sight. Lysandre sips his café crème innocently. Archie blinks even more innocently. Ghetsis looks less than innocent.
The Magma leader sighs, resigning to hunt for Cyrus, “He clearly passed through security. We all saw him.”
Ghetsis shrugs unhelpfully, “He might already be at the gate.”
Lysandre nods sagely, finally putting down his now-empty café crème, “That would be a good place to check.”
Archie opens his mouth to chime in but is suddenly interrupted by Maxie storming over to him and snatching his boarding pass out of his hands.
“We’re in terminal A, gate 57,” Maxie says, reading the boarding pass.
The pirate sulks, “I need that back.”
“You’ll get it back,” the redhead says, “as soon as we find Cyrus.”
~
Somehow, it doesn’t take long for the group to find the Galactic boss. As soon as they make their way to terminal A, in fact, they find him staring up into the sky at a nearby window with his yellow suitcase. In the midst of examining the clouds intently and peacefully, he is promptly forcibly dragged away by Ghetsis.
Rainbow Rocket makes their way to gate 57 without much trouble after that. Lysandre stops at Sawbuck’s for another café crème, insisting that it is “for the flight”. Giovanni, of course, finds this ridiculous. He orders a black coffee. Finally, though, after a long morning of preparation and arguments, the villainous group seats themselves outside of gate 57. Giovanni sips his black coffee sullenly, while Lysandre chugs his café crème enthusiastically. Ghetsis grumbles about something or other while Cyrus looks behind his shoulder and out the large windows that surround them the entire time that they wait. Maxie spends the entire time trying to get Archie to sit somewhere that is not directly next to him.
Giovanni sighs. Though this morning has not gone entirely according to plan, he is positive that this roadtrip can only be beneficial for the team. It will, he thinks, be a bonding experience of sorts. He really can’t think of anything that can possibly go wrong.