Chapter 76: Mammon! What Are You Doing?!
In the alley.
Under Armored Mewtwo's control, Erika — black tactical clothes, feet off the ground — turned slowly to face the person behind her.
And finally saw who it was.
Her pupils contracted sharply.
"Hm?"
Mammon raised an eyebrow.
"Small world, Gym Leader Erika. Didn't expect our reunion to go quite like this."
He strolled over to her with his hands in his pockets, looking her over with mild interest. Of all the people to find in his ventilation shafts — Erika. That was genuinely surprising.
"Oh, right — Mewtwo, ease up on her a little."
Erika still hadn't said anything. Mammon registered why.
"And put that Vileplume to sleep."
He glanced at the Vileplume, which was baring everything it had at him despite being completely immobilized. Loyal to a fault.
Armored Mewtwo said nothing. Its raised right arm swept casually to the left.
CRACK.
Vileplume hit the wall at speed. The impact left an actual dent in the brick. Half of Vileplume was embedded in it. It was asleep before it finished bouncing.
"Vileplume—!"
Mewtwo released the psychic hold. Erika called out immediately.
"It's fine, Gym Leader. Just incapacitated." Mammon started walking a slow circle around her.
He genuinely hadn't been able to tell. The Celadon Gym Leader — a young woman who loved nature and flowers, famous for her kimono and her composed, classical elegance. The kimono, it turned out, made it essentially impossible to read a figure unless someone was exceptionally endowed.
"...Are you Mammon? Mammon from — are you really Mammon?"
Erika bit her lip and looked at this boy, whose behavior bore no resemblance whatsoever to the person she remembered.
She'd met him before. She remembered it clearly — he'd come to challenge her Gym last year. The impression he'd left was strong: powerful Trainer, gentle manner, well-spoken, genuinely good company.
"You remember me. I'm flattered."
Mammon smiled and, without any particular ceremony, reached toward her waist.
"—Ah!"
Erika made a small involuntary sound. Her face went red instantly.
"Mammon — what are you — what are you doing—!"
Her voice came out softer and more flustered than she'd intended, which made everything worse.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not taking advantage of you." Mammon searched along her waist without any sign of embarrassment. "I'm just looking for Vileplume's Poké Ball."
Erika bit the inside of her cheek, staring very hard at the ground, acutely aware of the warmth of his hand through the fabric.
Even her ears had gone red.
"Your waist is very soft, by the way. And quite slim."
You just said you weren't taking advantage of me—!
Erika felt mildly dizzy. She had lived a sheltered, composed life. She had never once been in a situation like this.
"It's — in the back—"
"Sorry?"
"The Poké Ball. Vileplume's ball is at the back."
Barely above a whisper. Mammon had to lean in slightly to hear it.
He moved his hand around to the small of her back and found several minimized Poké Balls clipped there.
Then he sighed.
Erika, who had just barely started to relax, heard the sigh and felt a fresh surge of indignation. What are you sighing about—
Wait. Hold on.
"You're — you're actually in Team Rocket?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Mammon recalled Vileplume with her own ball, then reached over and took her phone, glancing at the screen. She'd been about to call someone — he caught the name before he pocketed it. Lorelei.
Erika's face had gone slightly pale. She looked at the armored figure behind Mammon — something she'd never seen before, something that radiated a strength that made her stomach feel hollow.
"Why would you—"
"Not the 'why' question again."
Mammon rolled his eyes and started walking toward the base entrance. Armored Mewtwo followed, and Erika drifted along beside it, still suspended.
"So many people have asked me that exact question, Gym Leader. It gets old."
"I always thought you'd become a Kanto Elite Four member," Erika said quietly. Her voice had steadied somewhat. "You didn't have to go down this road."
She knew she was a prisoner. She knew she had no standing to say any of this. She said it anyway.
"Please come with me," she said. "Leave this behind. There's still time, Mammon. I won't tell anyone about your involvement — I promise."
She meant it.
Mammon stopped walking.
He turned around, a half-smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes.
"Please don't say things like that, Gym Leader. You're my prisoner right now — if I wanted to do something to you, you couldn't stop me."
His hand moved to her face. Gentle. Almost tender. His fingers traced along her cheek, pale and smooth, and continued down to the line of her throat.
Erika went cold. Goosebumps rose along her arms.
"…"
She pressed her lips together and, wisely, stopped talking. Because if his hand continued moving downward from where it was, it was going to reach somewhere she really did not want it to reach.
"Good girl." Mammon smiled and withdrew his hand. "I don't respond well to people who can't read the room. If you actually want to persuade someone, you need to bring something more than words."
Erika's eyes went a little dim.
Back in the main control room of the underground base.
"Lord Mammon, she—"
Gladion's expression did something complicated when he saw Erika. The black tactical outfit gave him a very strong sense of déjà vu.
"She's the intruder. Ariana — what happened to you?"
Mammon glanced at Ariana, who was walking with a visible limp. Her leg, clearly.
"My apologies, Lord Mammon." Ariana's face was pale and tight. "I failed. The second intruder escaped."
"Come again?"
Mammon's eyebrow went up. There had been two of them?
Erika, hearing this, felt something quietly loosen in her chest. The girl had made it out.
"I pursued the second intruder, but encountered a Trainer in the process. I could not defeat them, even at full strength."
Ariana's expression was dark, but she forced herself to report it straight. No softening.
She still couldn't quite believe it. That boy in the cap — how old was he, even? He'd looked young. And she still couldn't beat him. If she hadn't run when she did, she might not have walked away at all.
"Tch."
Someone capable of defeating Ariana wasn't a random passerby. She was a senior executive. So who—
Actually — that was secondary. The intruder had escaped. Which meant the base was compromised.
The Kanto League would be sending people here soon.
Mammon's mouth curved slowly into a grin.
The first real collision between him and the Kanto League.
The curtain was going up.
He'd been waiting for this for a long time.
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