Chapter 327: Dawn: "That Was Supposed to Be MY Special First Meeting With You, Mr. Mammon!"
Morning came again.
"Mammon, Mammon, I miss you~"
"Yeah yeah, miss you too."
First thing in the morning, Mammon found a voice message waiting from a certain bun-haired girl.
That saccharine, overly cutesy tone made even Mammon shudder involuntarily — genuinely a bit much.
"Hmph~ So half-hearted. Have you made it to Kalos yet, Mammon?"
"Yep. Check this out — Lumiose City's famous landmark, Prism Tower."
Mammon sent over a photo, grinning.
"Whoa! So spectacular, I want to see it in person too! Mammon, Mammon~ When are you gonna go take down Kalos's evil organization? There's not a single bad guy to fight over here in Unova, so booooring."
"Aren't you supposed to be training to become Unova's Champion? Get ready for the Vertress Conference, huh? Do your special training."
Mammon couldn't help a small laugh.
"You got any Champion-caliber aces yet? Let me tell you — Dawn's practically Champion-caliber herself now."
"Tch~ don't look down on me. My Hydreigon and Serperior are both Champion-caliber already, thank you very much. The rest of my team's catching up too."
Mei pouted, thoroughly displeased. This "Dawn" character — she'd personally crush her someday, no question about it!
"Ha, not bad at all." Mammon raised an eyebrow. Looked like Mei hadn't been slacking off after all — her strength really had grown fast.
"The whole Kalos evil-org campaign's probably still a ways off. This one'll definitely be more exciting than the Sinnoh thing, don't rush it."
Mammon said with a smile.
"Yay! Guess I'll wait for it then, hehe~ Honestly though, mostly I just missed you. Want to video call tonight?"
"Depends how things go. Anyway, gotta run — breakfast time."
Mammon found himself struggling not to laugh. Mei really was way too forward — and she knew exactly what she was doing, too.
Last time she'd said she wanted to video call at night, and — how to even put it — that "sleepwear" had been suspiciously white, no wait, more like suspiciously loose, no that's not it either.
Point being, white AND loose — Mei really was generous, no denying it.
Once his brief exchange with Mei wrapped up, Mammon made his way to the villa's dining room for breakfast.
No sign of Caitlin — either still catching up on beauty sleep, or out back putting the Pokémon through special training. Though it was already ten, so she'd probably gotten herself up by now.
Caitlin really did work incredibly hard — he saw her running training drills constantly.
"Mr. Mammon, Gladion's investigation came back with results," Platinum told him.
"Oh? Let's hear it."
Mammon sipped his milk while a bleary-eyed Jirachi gnawed on a piece of bread nearby, its head nodding forward, looking like it might drop off to sleep at any moment. Victini hovered close by, staying alert in case that star-shaped head ended up faceplanting straight into Mammon's food bowl.
"According to a researcher we captured from Lysandre's institute, Team Flare's been searching for a creature called a Zygarde Core for a while now, and they've already caught one and are actively researching it," Platinum said, her pretty face turning serious.
"And according to Kalos regional mythology, Zygarde is the legendary Sentinel of Order, responsible for overseeing the region's whole ecosystem — an extraordinarily powerful Legendary Pokémon."
"Team Flare must be after control of Zygarde!"
No question about it — otherwise, why would Team Flare be catching Zygarde Cores in the first place?
"Mm, so what's your read on it, Dawn?" Mammon nodded.
"I think whatever Team Flare's actual goal is, it's definitely not something simple — they've got some plan going on that no one else knows about."
Platinum thought it over, but still couldn't quite piece together what exactly Team Flare was aiming for — she honestly didn't know Lysandre as a person at all.
Per the intel they had, Lysandre had been a great philanthropist once, and now a successful leader — at least on the surface, there was nothing that hinted at his real intentions. Well, except that he kept going on and on about a "beautiful," "wonderful" world — that part did feel a little off.
"Then keep digging into it. By the way, how exactly did Gladion get that researcher to talk?"
Mammon wasn't in any hurry to tell Platinum Team Flare's ultimate goal — knowing her disposition, she'd probably want to charge straight in and apprehend Lysandre right this instant.
After all, at the end of the day, Platinum was still a genuinely kind-hearted girl.
"Ummm... apparently Gladion had one of his subordinates use an Alolan Muk to threaten the researcher."
Platinum's delicate face twisted into a slightly awkward, uncomfortable expression as she answered quietly.
She'd actually asked Gladion the same question herself at the time — after all, someone with access to the Zygarde Core research would surely be a fairly senior researcher within Lysandre's institute. Why would they turn against Lysandre so easily?
But according to what Gladion told her, he'd had a subordinate order the Alolan Muk to slowly swallow the researcher whole, digest him partway, then spit him back out — and swallow him again, over and over, in a loop.
What a nightmare.
Watching, wide awake, as Alolan Muk opened its gaping maw and swallowed you slowly into its body — able to actually feel the slick mucous membrane of its digestive cavity against your skin.
By the end, the researcher, drenched head to toe in stomach acid, was sobbing and begging for mercy between retches — a fully successful conversion.
Finally, Gladion tossed the researcher a bank card loaded with a considerable sum of money and let him go home.
Yeah — say what you will, but Gladion clearly knew how to bring someone over to his side. Simple, brutal, and undeniably effective.
"Sounds like Gladion's got real methods these days. I'm feeling more and more confident in his work all the time," Mammon said, genuinely impressed.
"Yes — having a senior researcher like that as our inside contact will be a huge asset for gathering intel on Team Flare going forward."
Whatever you thought of Gladion's methods of persuasion, having a mole embedded like that was undeniably useful.
"Right, and by the way — have you been in touch with Serena?"
"I have. I figured you'd take a real interest in Serena, Mr. Mammon, so I reached out to her last night for a chat."
Platinum blinked cutely at Mammon, adorable as ever.
"I've already arranged for her to show us around Lumiose City today. That way, Mr. Mammon, you can try to work on recruiting her while we're at it."
"Honestly, I'd prefer something a bit simpler. Her family's in Vaniville Town, right?"
Mammon mused for a moment, speaking his mind.
Genuinely persuading Serena to join Team Rocket would probably take real effort — but there was a simpler, more practical route.
Serena, your mother's in Vaniville Town, isn't she? If you'd rather nothing happen to her...
Sure, this approach was a little shameless and cruel, but you had to admit — it was guaranteed to work on a good kid like Serena.
"Mr. Mammon, that would leave a really terrible impression on her, and Miss Serena is so sweet and pretty too."
The moment Platinum saw that particular expression and tone from Mammon, she immediately flashed back to a bad memory of her own, addressing him quietly, almost mournfully.
Doing that to me once was one thing — but now Serena too?
And on top of that—
"And besides, that's supposed to be MY special way of meeting you, Mr. Mammon — how can you go and reuse it on some other girl?"
Yeah — ever since accepting her place in Team Rocket, Platinum had always considered the way she'd met Mammon, and the circumstances of her joining, to be something genuinely special. A memory so vivid she couldn't help but smile fondly whenever she looked back on it now.
"Tsk~ Dawn, should I take that as jealousy?"
Mammon couldn't help but laugh, looking at Platinum with amusement.
Platinum went a little bashful at that, but stayed silent, letting her expression speak for her instead.
"Well, since you put it that way, Dawn, let's try a different approach. We are supposed to be a legitimate organization, after all."
Seeing her reaction, Mammon shifted gears with a smile.
Not that it mattered much either way, honestly — recruiting Serena into the organization was never something he'd found particularly difficult to begin with.
After all, Serena's personality already leaned pretty competitive and stubborn to begin with.
"Mmm~!"
At that, Platinum's face lit up, a huge smile spreading across her sweet, delicate features, her big eyes crinkling into crescent moons.
She was genuinely happy, genuinely savoring this small, indirect indulgence from Mammon.
Mr. Mammon really is the best~!
Mammon, meanwhile, turned his thoughts toward the day's schedule ahead.
Coming to Kalos wasn't just about growing Team Rocket's business here — the most important item on the agenda was making contact with Hoopa!
Hoopa Unbound.
Hoopa Unbound currently lived in the Vale of Creation, its "keepers" being the siblings Baraz and Meray. Actually catching Hoopa Unbound probably wouldn't be easy — its bond with the Baraz siblings ran too deep, the two sides essentially family at this point.
Worth attempting, sure, but no need to force it. As long as he could build a solid relationship with Hoopa Unbound and the siblings, it'd basically just be a matter of asking a favor whenever he needed Hoopa's help down the line.
After all, Hoopa itself was a Pokémon that genuinely loved excitement and a good fight.
More than anything, Hoopa was just incredibly useful — that Prison Bottle ring of its could take you anywhere you wanted, snatch up all sorts of things at will, even people and Pokémon alike. Basically unbeatable utility.
And Hoopa's malicious streak was honestly a fascinating angle worth exploring in its own right — well worth getting involved with.
Beyond Hoopa, there was also Diancie, another Kalos-native Pokémon Mammon was genuinely fond of. That little diamond-mine princess was both adorable and a genuine fighter — well worth capturing.
Trouble was, there was currently no lead on Diancie's whereabouts at all. He'd need to first locate the diamond mine kingdom itself.
After finishing breakfast and pulling Caitlin away from her ongoing training session, the three of them headed out together again.
But barely out the door, they ran into a familiar face.
"Well, well — Miss Diantha, what a coincidence."
Mammon raised an eyebrow, watching Diantha approach from a short distance away.
Judging by her direction, she seemed to be headed straight for his villa — which meant this was, without question, no coincidence at all.
Clearly, Diantha had come specifically to find him.
"Mr. Mammon, how was your rest last night?"
Diantha asked with a warm, gentle smile.
"Quite good, thanks. Something on your mind, Miss Diantha? Feel free to speak plainly."
"In that case, I'll get straight to the point."
Diantha took a silent, steadying breath.
"I know you're Team Rocket's leader, Mr. Mammon. I've come here on behalf of the Kalos League specifically to say this to you: as long as you can guarantee you won't go too far here in Kalos, you're welcome to name your terms."
Diantha said, dead serious.
She'd spent a long time thinking it over last night, and had decided to extend Mammon the utmost respect — honestly, she had nowhere near enough leverage to try negotiating conditions of her own with him.
"Oh? I'd love to know — what exactly counts as 'going too far'? And also..."
The corners of Mammon's mouth curled up slowly as he looked the Kalos Champion up and down.
"I can name literally any terms I want?"
Well, if you're going to put it that way, I suppose I do have a request worth naming, don't I?
(End of chapter)
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you