Giovanni

Leonardo Giovanni is a very knowledgeable Ground Type specialist. Once the Gym Leader of Viridian City he lost the position when it was revealed he doubled as the head honcho of the criminal organization known as Team Rocket.

NPC handler: Silent Reverence.

Backstory

Giovanni became a respected type specialist and Gym Leader some years ago and completed extensive studies on various species of Ground-type Pokémon. His most important and dangerous discoveries however he kept to himself in the form of a memoir in the works, titled Mysteries of the Earth. Besides these workings he also financed an effort to produce a superpowerful Pokémon that would eventually become Mewtwo. Before his reveal as the lead of Team Rocket, Silent had hoped to learn everything about training of Nidoran from him.

Eventually Red's actions led to Team Rocket being disbanded. Giovanni was fought but was forced to flee. The near-complete revision of his memoir was confiscated by an unspecified agent and eventually handed over to PEFE.

After spending a couple of years on the run Giovanni received news that some of his lieutenants were trying to resurface Team Rocket in Johto, however Giovanni was defeated (probably by Luke) before being able to complete the training that would have allowed him to get back on the stage.

In WAAPT

Giovanni somehow stole an entry to the Gold Conference and took part in the first rounds where he hoped to meet some of the members of the J-Team if not Red himself. He eventually battled Tagg. While he hoped for a fair match (or as fair as it can be when your two best mons have not had their horns and spikes filed to regulation) he discovered some former members of TR still loyal to him and led by Domino had rigged the match to his favor. He eventually loses gracefully and is arrested.

As of the PEFE-Exploration arc Giovanni stays arrested.

In the Alternate Timeline, Silent somehow obtained the original copy of Giovanni's book and used it to design armouring for the advanced morphs of the Nidoran line, then led by Vinollo. While misguided his efforts proved convenient when Johto was invaded by the forces of Artemis and Scolipede and the armours allowed the roaming patrollers of the Goldenrod forests colony to eventually thwart the invasion of Goldenrod and even take part in an assault in Unova.

Challenges

Tagg and Giovanni met in the first rounds of the Gold Conference. Tagg emerged the victor.

Team

Giovanni's team is a mixture of games and anime.

• His Nidoking Nino and his Nidoqueen Nina.
• His Right Hand Persian.
• A Rhyperior with a personality similar to Lt. Slade's from Scent of a Woman.
• A Kangaskhan and her joey.
• A Honchkrow.