Chapter 339: Hoopa Is Absolutely Terrified — Wait, Even Arceus's Scent Too?!
"Baby!!"
On Melemele Island, the straw-hat girl's excited shriek rang out loud enough to startle nearby passersby. But the straw-hat girl, right now, couldn't care less.
"Baby! Going and doing something huge behind my back like this!"
Mitsuki was practically bursting with delight. She'd originally been planning to head over to the Aether Foundation later to chat with Lillie — since the island challenge circuit was already complete, all that was left was waiting for the Alola Conference to begin. Aside from training, there wasn't much pressing to do day-to-day, so this morning, after her usual workout, she'd settled in to browse the forums and catch up on some gossip.
And then...
Then she'd noticed the entire Alola forum buzzing with people discussing this name — Mammon.
Wait, isn't that literally MY man?
Mitsuki was stunned, and immediately went and found the interview video.
Oh my god! Of course my man would be like this — SO handsome!
Mitsuki couldn't wait another second and called Mammon immediately, absolutely bursting with excitement.
"I was gonna tell you in person when we met up," Mammon said with a rueful laugh.
Honestly, even he hadn't expected this interview to have this much impact, and almost entirely positive at that. Take Unova's temp workers, for instance — all of them practically clamoring to be formally enrolled now.
That was, without question, good news for Mammon. Sure, he could've kept using them under the radar indefinitely — but they weren't fully his people that way, and a clash between Team Rocket and the League was coming eventually regardless. When that happened, Mei and the others might not be usable at all — worse, the League might well end up recruiting them as their own combat strength instead.
How to put it — that outcome would've been a certain kind of entertaining, sure, but it wasn't really the result Mammon wanted.
And now, things were looking a lot better. Just one improvised little story had reshaped public perception of Team Rocket entirely, its reputation shooting up fast. And it had thoroughly won over Mei and the rest of her crew, too.
Worth mentioning — when that Unova bun-haired girl had called him that morning, she'd been shouting about wanting to marry him and bear him a hundred children.
Mammon could only think, A hundred? Are you TRYING to kill yourself?
"Hehehe~ heh~ Baby, you're so handsome~"
Mitsuki giggled, her voice thick with syrupy affection.
"Of course. When have I ever not been handsome?"
"My baby's the most handsome man in the entire world! When are you coming to Alola? I miss you~"
Mitsuki blinked her big eyes. That video had left her absolutely craving the sight of her own man in person — her longing had shot through the roof.
"Once the Alola Conference starts. I'm busy building up the organization in Kalos right now."
"Okay~ Oh, and baby, I want to join Team Rocket too, hurry up and give me a position."
"How about the boss's personal secretary?"
"No way! That'd just mean getting pinned down on the desk every single day."
Mitsuki pouted. She knew exactly what her man's mind was on — every single time the two of them were alone together, Mammon never once behaved himself. Not that she minded, honestly — it just proved he really did like her. But Mitsuki wasn't exactly some helpless, fragile little flower either.
The straw-hat girl's tone turned distinctly proud.
"I want a fighting position! Baby~ I'm super strong now! Professor Kukui can't even beat me anymore!"
That's right — she'd beaten Alola's strongest trainer, Kukui, herself, just yesterday. Sure, it had just been a standard full-team battle, but Kukui hadn't held anything back at all.
"That's my girl, amazing." Mammon didn't hold back the praise.
"Heheheh~ obviously."
The straw-hat girl's eyes crinkled into crescent moons with her smile.
After chatting on the phone a while longer, Mitsuki finally hung up, walking toward the shore with a spring in her step. She was in genuinely wonderful spirits right now — her darling had just handed her a top-tier executive position, which sounded seriously impressive.
That meant she was officially a member of Team Rocket now too. Not bad at all.
And more than anything — the Mammon in that video had just been unbearably good-looking! Mitsuki was practically buzzing with excitement, wondering if Lillie had seen the video too.
Heheh~ if I told Lillie the Mammon in that video is my boyfriend, she'd definitely be shocked and totally jealous, right?
Hahaha!
But Mitsuki decided to hold off for now — Lillie was her best friend, after all. Better to wait until the Alola Conference, when Mammon actually came to Alola, and introduce him to Lillie properly, hand in hand.
—
Several days passed like this.
And over those days, the Team Rocket boss's interview remained, without question, the single hottest topic of discussion everywhere — a genuine boon for the Lumiose Press, which blew up overnight. Fans everywhere were clamoring for a follow-up interview with Mammon, desperate to learn more about this man.
Easier said than done, though. The Lumiose Press's editor-in-chief was genuinely at a loss — if it were up to him, he'd love nothing more than to ride the momentum with a second interview right away. But the whole thing depended on the subject actually agreeing to it! All he could do was hope Viola could pull it off.
—
Six in the morning.
Diantha quietly slipped into her underwear, and when she turned around, found Mammon already awake, eyes open.
"Wake you up?"
Diantha kept dressing, unbothered.
"Just go back to sleep — sneaking around like a thief every morning, what's even the point?" Mammon said with a lazy yawn.
Ever since Diantha had recovered from her injuries, at Mammon's request, she'd been coming over every night, always leaving before six in the morning.
Mammon genuinely thought Diantha had something loose in her head over this.
"I don't want Serena and the others seeing me. It wouldn't look good."
Diantha shot Mammon a sideways glare. Whose fault is it that I have to keep sneaking around at ungodly hours, exactly? Every single night, dragging herself over here so he could have his way with her, and he had the nerve to complain about it. Unbelievable!
"They wouldn't gossip about it."
"I just don't want them to know, period." Diantha's face stayed flat.
She was a regional Champion, a world-renowned actress, no less — and now reduced to being Mammon's... whatever this was. If Serena ever found out, how was she supposed to look her in the eye again?
"Fine, suit yourself." Mammon didn't bother pressing further.
"By the way, you don't need to come by for the next couple of days."
Something seemed to occur to him, and Mammon told her.
"?" Diantha blinked, confused. He doesn't need me to come anymore? What does that mean? Surely he's not worn out after just this stretch of time?
Diantha didn't actually think that was the reason — by now, she was fully convinced Mammon's stamina was practically bottomless, like some kind of bull. She had reasonable grounds to suspect there was something genuinely wrong with the man's kidneys.
Over the past several days, she'd thrown absolutely everything she had at just staying conscious through it, and simply managing to avoid passing out again counted as her best personal achievement so far.
"I'll be out of town for a few days, so you get a proper rest too — otherwise you'll keep saying I don't know how to treat a lady gently."
Mammon said lazily.
"Fine. I'll wait for you to get back." Diantha let out a relieved breath.
If this had kept up much longer, she genuinely felt like she wouldn't have been able to take it.
She slipped quietly out of the villa afterward, while Mammon promptly went back to sleep.
—
At ten that morning, freshly awake, Mammon set out from Lumiose City with Caitlin and Platinum. Serena, meanwhile, was heading back to Vaniville Town for a visit, so she didn't join them.
The Vale of Creation — a genuinely beautiful, unspoiled little valley, home to a small, secluded town founded by people who'd chosen to withdraw from the wider world.
With their location data in hand, the three of them made it to the Vale of Creation without much trouble.
The magnificent white dragon touched down, its clear, pure blue eyes surveying the humble little town before them.
"Finally made it."
The three of them dismounted from Reshiram.
Caitlin and Platinum looked around but found nothing especially remarkable about the place.
"Let's go. Time to head in."
Mammon recalled Reshiram and started toward the town.
Credit where it's due — the Vale of Creation's environment was genuinely lovely. Along the way, they passed field after field of healthy, thriving crops.
"Wait!"
Just as they reached the edge of town, a young man in a red cloak appeared behind the three of them.
Mammon raised an eyebrow — he recognized this one immediately. Baraz. One of Hoopa Unbound's "keepers."
"Sorry to call out to you so suddenly. I'm Baraz, a resident of this town."
Baraz addressed the three of them apologetically.
"And you all are?"
"I'm Mammon, a traveler. These two are my traveling companions — we happened to be passing through the area and stumbled onto this town, so we thought we'd rest here for the day."
"I see. Please, follow me."
Baraz gestured, still gracious and mild as ever.
"Our town's a little out of the way, so we don't get many outside visitors — there's no inn in town, unfortunately."
Baraz continued, leading the three into the town, sounding a little apologetic.
"We do have a couple of empty houses we could offer you for the night, though — don't worry, they're kept clean. My sister sweeps them out regularly."
The Vale of Creation's location really was remote — and even with how widespread travel culture was in this world, genuine visitors who stumbled onto the Vale of Creation by chance were still rare. The Vale's people were simple, honest folk, and there had never really been demand for an actual inn.
"No worries at all — having somewhere to stay is already a lot better than camping out in the wild," Mammon said with a smile.
"Mr. Baraz, do you and everyone else here usually just... stay here, and never go out?" Platinum asked, curious. She'd seen plenty of remote towns before, but a town without even a single inn was genuinely a first for her.
"Ah~ that's right. None of us really go out much," Baraz said, nodding.
Platinum found it a little hard to grasp — a village this isolated, still existing in this day and age? And along the way, she'd noticed all sorts of ivory carvings scattered around, bearing some kind of mysterious, unfamiliar symbol.
"Here we are — these two houses are both empty. The three of you can rest here."
Baraz gestured toward two small houses ahead.
"Thank you so much, that's very kind."
"No trouble at all. If you run into any issues, feel free to reach out to me — I live right over there." Baraz was genuinely warm and helpful.
But right at that moment—
"Baraaaz~!"
A pinkish-gray Pokémon came zooming over with a loud, wailing cry, wrapping itself around Baraz's head.
"Hoopa, cut it out. Let go of me first."
"Something terrible, Baraz! Meray's gone crazy! She wants to STEW Hoopa! It's so scary, I—huh?!"
Hoopa Unbound, mid-sentence, suddenly went silent, staring at Mammon, its big eyes blinking rapidly.
Mammon blinked right back at it.
"Emmm... weird."
Hoopa Unbound let go of Baraz and drifted slowly over toward Mammon, stretching its neck out to peer at him up close, gnawing at its own finger with an expression full of visible conflict.
"Hoopa, don't stare at Mr. Mammon like that, it's rude," Baraz scolded it.
"Don't be mean! This guy's just weird!"
Hoopa pouted and drifted back a little.
"Why do you say that?" Platinum asked Hoopa, genuinely puzzled.
"Mmm~ he's got so many smells on him. Rayquaza, Reshiram, Giratina, Lugia... no wait, that's not quite Lugia."
Hoopa scratched its head. It had genuinely been shocked a moment ago — how could a single human have this many Legendary Pokémon scents clinging to him? Genuinely spooky. And there seemed to be even more, on top of that.
And, most importantly...
"You can actually SMELL all that??" Platinum stared at the little pink-gray creature, thoroughly astonished.
Being able to pick out the scents of Reshiram and the others meant this little guy wasn't just gifted with an incredible nose — it clearly wasn't ordinary itself either.
"Heheh~ of course! Hoopa's super amazing! Let me sniff some more, there's definitely more!"
Hoopa put its hands on its hips, thoroughly pleased with itself, showing off.
It absolutely loved watching people react in shock.
Hoopa drifted in close to Mammon again, circling around him while its little nose twitched constantly.
"There's also Mew's, and Regigigas's, and this one's..."
Suddenly, Hoopa's whole body went rigid, and it shot instantly behind Baraz, only its little head peeking out, staring warily at Mammon.
The HELL — there's Arceus's scent too!
In that instant, Hoopa was absolutely, thoroughly terrified.
(End of chapter)
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