Chapter 87: What's Mammon's Main Roster?!
Vermilion City. A villa under Mammon's name.
Erika had been dispatched to the kitchen. Mammon and Caitlin headed upstairs.
"How did it go?"
Giovanni's face appeared on the video call. From the background, he was in his Viridian Gym office.
"Not particularly satisfying. Lorelei and Bruno were a bit below what I was hoping for. Lance never showed."
Mammon shook his head. He'd genuinely wanted Lance to appear.
"Heh. As long as you're in one piece. What about Gladion and the others?"
Senior executives were another matter — losing even one was a meaningful setback.
"Bruno caught them. I already had Mewtwo bring them back. Should be here soon."
"Good. When are you planning to leave Kanto?"
Giovanni felt Mammon should probably move on to another region before causing further trouble. He'd only just returned and had already gone head-to-head with the League.
"About another week. I have one more thing I want to try."
"Alright. Ha — Goodshow is calling me. Time to have another conversation."
Giovanni glanced at his other phone.
"Show him a good performance. I'm hanging up."
Mammon ended the call — and at almost the same moment, the doorbell rang. Ariana and Gladion at the front door.
"Coming, just a moment—"
The slightly flustered female voice was followed by the door opening to reveal a black-haired girl in an apron, who gave them an awkward smile and quickly tried to hide the spatula behind her back.
"Is — is Lord Mammon in?"
Ariana stared at the Celadon Gym Leader in full domestic attire.
Gladion's expression was extremely complicated.
"He is, yes. Please come in."
Erika composed herself and stepped aside to let them through.
"Have you eaten? It'll be ready soon — I made a bit too much, you're welcome to stay."
"Thank you," Ariana said, on automatic.
"Don't mention it. Let me get you some water — wait! My cooking—!"
Erika's face changed. She bolted to the kitchen, and after a frantic minute of sounds, a relieved exhale drifted back out.
Ariana and Gladion looked at each other.
"You're back. Come sit down."
Mammon came down the stairs, smiling at both of them.
"Lord Mammon, we're deeply sorry."
Both of them apologized immediately. Caitlin had covered their retreat and they'd still managed to get caught — and then had to be rescued by Mammon's Pokémon on top of it.
"Don't worry about it. Running into Bruno in that situation was just bad luck."
Mammon waved it off.
"Work harder from here. Get that payback next time."
"Yes, sir!"
Ariana was embarrassed — she had no idea how she'd ever pay Bruno back — but Gladion's eyes were steady and certain.
He remembered this.
Next time, he was putting Bruno down and locking him in a basement.
"One more thing — Erika, what's the situation there?"
"Oh, her. She's handling my meals and housekeeping for the time being."
"As expected of Lord Mammon."
Ariana was genuinely impressed. An official Gym Leader with a bright future ahead of her, reduced to domestic service. Remarkable.
Indigo Plateau.
Giovanni arrived at the familiar conference room.
He found not only Goodshow, Agatha, and Lorelei, but Bruno and the head officer as well.
"Giovanni. Glad you could come. Please, sit."
Goodshow's smile was as warm as always.
"Chairman."
Giovanni greeted him and took a seat.
"We called you in because we discovered a Rocket base in Celadon City this afternoon. Lorelei and Bruno encountered Mammon directly."
Goodshow's tone was unhurried and even.
Giovanni's expression shifted slightly.
"Unfortunately, his strength proved exceptional. He wasn't apprehended."
Goodshow sighed.
"I am deeply sorry. This is my failure as a father." Giovanni stood, his voice carrying genuine weight.
"Chairman, please allow me to make this right. I'll bring Mammon back myself."
"No, no — sit down, Giovanni, there's no need for that. This isn't on you."
Goodshow gestured for him to sit. He did privately believe that Giovanni's parenting had contributed to how things had developed, but that was hardly something to say aloud.
"Giovanni. Do you know what Mammon's actual strength level is?"
Lorelei leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, voice cool and precise.
"Broadly, yes." Giovanni sat back down, his voice low and measured.
"Mammon wanted to become an outstanding Trainer from a young age. I invested heavily in developing him from childhood."
"When he returned to the Viridian Gym partway through last year, he was already Champion-tier."
"Champion-tier in half a year?" The head officer's voice rose.
"Heh heh heh~" Even Agatha let out a low, raspy laugh.
Goodshow sighed quietly again. A talent like that, and he'd gone to Team Rocket.
"As of now, with Mammon's rate of growth — I expect his strength has already surpassed mine."
The room absorbed this in various ways.
Lorelei's brow furrowed. Last year at the midpoint he still wasn't Giovanni's match? Which meant Giovanni was also Champion-tier?
The others had clearly reached the same conclusion. They'd always known Giovanni was the "strongest Gym Leader in Kanto," but the actual specifics had never been confirmed — he kept a low profile.
"In that case, Giovanni — you'd know what Pokémon are in Mammon's main roster."
"…Yes." A pause. Then a nod.
"Would you share that with us? It's critical intelligence." Agatha's clouded eyes fixed on Giovanni.
"Mammon's starter was a Shiny Gastly. He loved Ghost-types, so I found one for him."
Giovanni's voice was heavy. The words came slowly.
"When he returned to Viridian after setting out, his main team was Gengar, Mismagius, Annihilape, and a Tyranitar. Four Pokémon."
"Only four?"
"His roster wasn't yet complete at that point. What he added afterward — I don't know."
Giovanni shook his head. At the Indigo Conference, Mammon had swept everything with just Annihilape. No one had seen the rest of his team.
"A Ghost and Dark specialist," Agatha murmured, falling into thought.
So the armored black Pokémon with the terrifying psychic output was something Mammon acquired later. Interesting.
Lorelei's expression was tight. She wanted to understand that armored creature Mammon had called "Mewtwo" — it had been genuinely, unreasonably powerful.
"According to intelligence from Alola, Mammon also captured Tapu Fini." Goodshow's voice was quiet. "Quite a remarkable young man."
"Chairman. I'd like to formally apply for this year's Elite Four Challenge."
Giovanni's voice was low and deliberate.
"You're serious?" Goodshow looked at him, surprised. Every year, official Gym Leaders had one opportunity to challenge the Elite Four, though only one slot was available — and Giovanni had passed on it every single year, as had all the others.
"Yes. I want to become an Elite Four member. I'll defeat him myself and bring him back to the League."
"Excellent. I approve — though you'll need to win the right to challenge first."
Goodshow was genuinely moved. He had a feeling that stopping Mammon would ultimately come down to Giovanni. The one who tied the knot should be the one to untie it.
"Heh heh~ I look forward to having you with us, Giovanni." Agatha's raspy laugh had an unsettling quality.
Bruno's eyes lit up. He'd just lost to Mammon today — but that was fine. He could fight Mammon's father. Surely the father wasn't as absurdly strong as the son.
Lorelei studied Giovanni in silence, her assessment unreadable.
Then she looked away, something faintly strange moving through her expression.
She'd just realized something.
If she actually did marry Mammon — she'd have to call Giovanni Dad.
…Hmm.
Lorelei knew she didn't have feelings for Mammon. But her thoughts had gone there entirely on their own, which was deeply irregular.
8 PM.
"Gladion still training?"
Mammon came to the bathroom door with his change of clothes and ran into Caitlin coming back down the hall.
After dinner, Caitlin and Gladion had gone to the back garden for extra training.
"He is. Very focused." Caitlin nodded.
"Today hit him hard, I'd imagine. That one's got a proud streak." Mammon smiled. Which was fine — it would drive him forward.
He watched Caitlin head back to her room, then looked down at Erika on the sofa watching television.
"Gym Leader Erika."
"Yes? What is it?"
"I'm going to take a bath. Come scrub my back."
"—What."
Erika's eyes went perfectly round. Her face went completely red. She shook her head rapidly.
"A bath together — no, no, no — you can't, that leads to babies, I don't want ten of anything, I'll be ruined—"
"What are you imagining? I said scrub my back. Not a couples' bath."
Mammon blinked at her. What was this woman on about.
"Oh — scrubbing. Right. ...Okay."
Erika came back to herself, answered with a red face, and followed him toward the bathroom.
And then, halfway there, the Celadon Gym Leader — lover of flower arranging, graduate of a distinguished household — stopped dead and stared at the towel in her hands.
Wait.
Why did I just agree to scrub a man's back?
Something has gone very wrong with my thinking.
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