Antonio

Art by Emi Luna

### Relationships

Patricia/Giorno (enemy), Julius (coworker, extortion victim), Marco (son, underling), Giovanni (coworker), Ogen (coworker)

> "*Even if you were to beat me in a battle now, what would happen? You call the police on me? I own the police.*"
> ― Antonio
>
>

Antonio is the leader of the Antoria branch of Team Rocket.

## Appearance

Antonio is a stylish man whose handsomeness is noted within the story. His brown hair is slightly wavy and he has an undercut. He has light stubble and his right eyebrow is broken by a scar. He wears a which button down shirt with a jacket tossed over his shoulders. He also wears jeans and a belt with the Team Rocket "R" on the buckle. His loafers are white.

## Personality

On the surface, Antonio is a very suave man. He is very charming and uses his words smoothly. This helps to distract from his thinly veiled threats against people. He takes his organization very seriously, willing to recruit strong trainers at a moment's notice.

His treatment of his son Marco is nothing short of emotionally abusive. He will berate Marco's apparent lack of talent in public and is willing to abandon him if Marco doesn't meet his expectations. However, he also will praise Marco in the few times he succeeds in Antonio's eyes and will actually help him grow into a better member of Team Rocket.

## History

At some point, Antonio became the head of Team Rocket and a member fo the Antorian Elite Four. He also had a son, Marco, with a currently unknown woman, though the two have split up by the present.

When Marco showed interest in joining Team Rocket, he tried helping Marco get stronger, regardless of Marco's mother's thoughts on the subject.

At some point, he strong-arms Julius into allowing Team Rocket to build a warehouse on a group of islands owned by Team Imperium. Although only Team Imperium members were initially allowed on the islands, Julius permitted Team Rocket to build the warehouse in exchange for not harming the group.

## *What If Italy Was a Pokémon Region?*

Antonio first appears in Cosenza when Marco starts accosting Patricia/Giorno outside his mansion. Antonio claims that the Patricia/Giorno doesn't seem to be that strong and that Marco should be able to take them down easily, which cows Marco into silence. Antonio then starts saying that Patricia/Giorno has accomplished much more than Marco, even stating that they have more gym badges than him and insulting his starter Pokémon. Marco sits through Antonio's casual insults, only exploding in rage when Antonio says that he would rather have Patricia/Giorno in Team Rocket than Marco. When Marco loses, Antonio continues insulting his son's weakness before entering the mansion with Patricia/Giorno and leaving Marco behind.

Antonio takes Patricia/Giorno on a tour of the mansion, highlighting the Platinum Garden, where he has imported Pokémon from several regions. During the tour, Antonio reveals that he runs a large organization and confirms that Marco is trying to get into the family business. He tries offering a position to Patricia/Giorno, though admits that only family members can rise to the upper ranks (at least in Antoria. He implies that the Kanto branch has different standards). When Patricia/Giorno ask whether his work is legal, Antonio ends the conversation and says that they are allowed to visit the mansion whenever they want.

Antonio reappears at the Pokémon league as one of the Elite Four members. He is disappointed, but not surprised, that Marco didn't make it to the league first, but pushes that aside before initiating the battle.

The "Razzo Episode" goes into more depth about Antonio's line of work. Antonio directs Team Rocket to capture one of the region's legendaries. While the grunts hold off Patricia/Giorno on Vittoria Island long enough for the legendary to be captured. Antonio encounters them not to long after they discover the missing legendary and although he is shocked to see Patricia/Giorno, he quickly composes himself. He seems shocked that Marco (who was entrusted to lead the mission) would be able to capture the legendary Pokémon, but is pleased with the results. Patricia/Giorno gets ready to battle Antonio, but he just laughs them off. He has been leading Antoria's Team Rocket for years, successfully embedding himself and his team in Antorian society. Not even the cops can stop Team Rocket because of Antonio's influence. There is no way that Patricia/Giorno can win, so they should just back down from confronting Antonio. He even says that he let Julius know that the legendary was stolen, just to make sure that he could speak with Patricia/Giorno in private.

Once Marco is defeated, Antonio sends Marco a message over his radio earpiece, calling off the mission and summoning Marco to his office. Although Marco is angry that he has to retreat, he obeys his father. During the post-credits scene, Marco confronts Antonio about ending the mission before he could succeed. Marco is thrown off when Antonio mentions that he's proud of Marco and his accomplishments. The video ends with Antonio sending Marco to work with Giovanni in order to help him get stronger and reach his true potential.

## Known Pokémon

Houndoom

Honchkrow

## Trivia

* DeadBones voices Antonio.
* Antonio has a photo on his desk featuring a girl who would later be revealed to be Evil Rosa.

* In a Twitter post, Mr. Buddy revealed that Antonio helped Marco catch his Terravian when he was younger. Although Marco has forgotten that day, Antonio has a picture hidden in his office of Marco's accomplishment.