Chapter 194: Welcome to Team Rocket!
He'd only been inside for a few minutes, hadn't he?
Colress stared at the visibly wounded Zekrom, then swept his gaze over to Primal Kyogre hovering in the rain.
His brain had briefly stopped processing. What exactly had happened out here?
"Colress. Are you ready to go?"
N noticed him emerge, and something shifted in his expression — he'd actually been on the verge of writing off Colress entirely and making a run for it.
The math was simple enough. Zekrom couldn't win against Primal Kyogre. Staying was only going to make things worse.
But then Colress had walked out at exactly this moment, which simplified things considerably.
"Mm. Mm?"
Colress nodded, took a step toward N — and found himself gently but completely unable to move, his body floating upward without his input.
He blinked. Psychic?
"Mammon — what exactly are you doing?"
N's voice sharpened slightly, eyes snapping to Mammon.
He could see it plainly: the armored black Pokémon standing beside Mammon was the one restraining Colress.
"Not much. Just taking a person."
Mammon's smile was the picture of cheerful health.
Of course he wasn't about to let Colress leave with N. N could go — Mammon was actually looking forward to watching N and Ghetsis's dynamic play out further without interference. But Colress was a different matter entirely.
"...?" N's brow tightened.
Colress, for his part, had already composed himself. He floated, entirely helpless and entirely dignified about it, over to where Mammon stood.
The brisk confidence he'd shown against Looker and Drayton had been shelved somewhere — understandably, given that the Pokémon now holding him in place was, by direct implication, the same one that had put Zekrom on the ground.
"Well, Dr. Colress — it's an honor. I'm Mammon, from Team Rocket."
Mammon gave him a friendly little greeting.
"Likewise, I'm sure." Colress answered with perfect manners, then: "Would you mind setting me down? This position is somewhat awkward."
He'd been rendered unable to move his arms properly, which was, as a point of personal dignity, quite inconvenient.
Also — Team Rocket's Mammon.
The name had come up through Ghetsis before — with a very particular quality of anger attached to it that Colress hadn't fully processed at the time. He was processing it now. That someone with this level of power had come personally for him...
Interesting.
"Of course. Just stay cooperative, please. I'll reassure you — my intentions aren't anything harmful."
"I will."
Colress understood his circumstances. He wasn't going to make this worse.
At Mammon's nod, Dark Mewtwo released him. Colress settled smoothly back to the ground, adjusted his jacket, and rolled his shoulders.
He looked at Mammon. Then he looked over at N.
"It seems I've been captured, Your Highness."
He spread his hands with an apologetic shrug, expression conveying sincere helplessness.
He's smiling while saying he's been captured???
N's expression did not improve. He'd never particularly liked Colress — but Colress was Team Plasma's chief scientist, and Ghetsis valued him greatly, and now this man had just been poached in front of him—
The feeling in N's chest was not a simple one.
"N. Retreat."
Zekrom's telepathy settled in N's mind once more.
"...Okay."
This time, N agreed without debate.
ROOOAARR!
The turbine in Zekrom's tail spun up to full speed. A massive lightning bolt tore down from above and slammed directly into Primal Kyogre.
Thunder.
While the bolt landed, Zekrom whipped around, dove low, and scooped N into its claws. Time to leave.
"Ice Beam."
Mammon wasn't surprised by any of this.
N wasn't stupid. Staying to fight a losing battle would only cost Zekrom more — the outcome was already clear. Of course he'd run.
Primal Kyogre's golden eyes stayed flat and cold. A winding coil of ice-blue light launched from its jaws toward Zekrom's retreating form.
As for the Thunder — it didn't particularly register.
BOOM!
Thunder connected squarely. Golden light wrapped around Primal Kyogre's body — and Primal Kyogre shuddered once, then dismissed it entirely, a single wing-beat scattering the remaining electricity like fog.
"Exceptional special defense. And raw power suppression on top of it."
Watching that exchange, Colress finally had a clear answer for why Zekrom had been in the state it was.
A super-effective Thunder, full contact — and Primal Kyogre had barely flinched. Terrifying.
The Ice Beam caught Zekrom squarely across the back. A low, smothered grunt of pain.
Crk. Crk. Crk—
Ice crystals spread rapidly across Zekrom's back, crawling and locking together into a solid frost layer.
Zekrom bit down on the pain, poured everything into altitude, and vanished into the grey curtain of rain above.
"That's still pretty impressive, honestly. Taking an Ice Beam that clean and still managing to fly out — Zekrom's willpower isn't nothing."
Mammon watched where it had disappeared with genuine appreciation. He'd actually thought that hit might be enough to bring it down.
No matter. Close enough.
"..."
Colress had no comment.
"Now then, Dr. Colress — that leaves the two of us."
"I'm listening," Colress replied with impeccable courtesy.
He was a prisoner, technically. That said, he was legitimately curious why Team Rocket had gone to this much trouble specifically for him. Had his talent reached the point where even Rocket couldn't resist making a move?
"Let's find a better venue. This isn't ideal."
Primordial Sea's rain was already dissipating. Mammon recalled Kyogre, glanced over to where Looker and Elesa stood at a distance.
His eyes lingered, briefly, on Elesa's impressively long legs.
Those are legitimately rare.
He let the thought pass and looked away. Dark Mewtwo's eyes lit with blue light, Psychic carrying all four of them into the air, and in a moment, they were gone.
"They left."
Elesa let out a breath that had been quietly building. It helped, more than she wanted to admit.
She'd been unable to relax for the entire stretch of that confrontation — even knowing backup from the League was on the way, her honest assessment of the odds hadn't been optimistic.
"Evil organizations are getting stronger." Looker pressed her fingers to her temples, expression grim. "Plasma's King has Zekrom. Rocket's operative has Primal Kyogre that handles Zekrom like it's nothing."
Elesa said nothing. She wasn't a naturally expressive person, and the gap between what had just happened and what she could do about it was wide enough that silence seemed like the appropriate response.
She wanted to protect Nimbasa. That was the truth of it.
But facing opponents at N's and Mammon's level — she was being honest with herself. That wasn't in her reach. That was the kind of thing that called for Elite Four and Champions.
She was a Gym Leader.
On the distant hillside, Skyla's control over her own reaction had essentially collapsed.
"Mr. Mammon!! That was amazing!!"
The admiration she'd felt watching him at the Indigo Conference had built throughout this trip, and now it had simply crested.
"He really is unreal." Drayton's usual lazy drawl couldn't quite contain the genuine respect underneath. He hadn't expected his employer to actually be that strong.
Right. Time to put in some real work.
"Mr. Mammon..." Kieran's eyes had gone wide and full of something. He thought, quietly, that maybe he should listen to what Mammon had to say.
After all, Mammon had said Kieran had real potential. Maybe that was true.
"Let's head back. Good results today, everyone?" Drayton stretched both arms above his head, then looked down at his completely soaked clothes with mild resignation.
Primal Kyogre's rain had covered their hilltop too. They'd been too focused on the battle to notice until now.
"I'm still so far from my Ralts." Skyla opened her merit tracker on the app, made a face at the number.
"Same, Dratini's gonna take forever." Drayton shrugged. "Next assignment."
Both of them were already looking forward to it.
A hotel in Nimbasa City — a private room, post-shower, waiting on food.
"Dr. Colress, I'll get straight to it. Team Plasma has no future. I'm extending you a sincere invitation to join Team Rocket. What do you say?"
Mammon set down his glass and looked at Colress across the table.
So that's what it is.
Colress hadn't been particularly surprised. He considered for a moment.
"Team Rocket currently has a stable foothold in both Alola and Hoenn — our operational growth has been consistently strong." Mammon laid it out plainly.
"Unova is our third target. And Plasma — we're not leaving Plasma operating here. That's not on the table."
"To be direct: Ghetsis has ambition without the composure to match it. N has ideals, but those ideals were shaped by Ghetsis — manufactured, fundamentally, from outside. At the root, N cannot succeed, and that failure will be Plasma's."
"In terms of raw strength — between my own team and the rest of our executives, Team Rocket currently fields four Champion-tier fighters and over a dozen Elite-Four-tier senior officers."
"Whether you're looking at trajectory or at present capability, Doctor — Rocket is the better option. For you."
Mammon kept his tone easy.
"Mr. Mammon." Colress's eyes moved, something behind them turning over. "I'm a scientist."
He was, in fact, already interested. His actual attachment to Team Plasma had always been thin — they'd given him resources and freedom, which was the entirety of his loyalty. With Rocket now pushing hard into Unova, the eventual outcome of any confrontation between the two organizations wasn't difficult to forecast. Two apex predators, one territory — one would absorb the other. That was simply how it worked.
And the evidence that N was not Mammon's match had been demonstrated very recently and very clearly.
That said, there was still room to negotiate.
"Of course, Doctor — that's not a concern at all."
Mammon pushed the gold badge across the table.
"You have the strength and the talent for a top-rank executive position — our fifth. Resources, authority, complete access. Lab space, equipment — none of that is an issue."
"I'm honored."
Colress smiled, accepting the gold badge with its engraved R, turning it over in his fingers with evident curiosity.
There was no reason to refuse. Rocket had made their sincerity clear.
As for Team Plasma—
Team Plasma? He'd always been a Team Rocket operative, of course. Obviously. Naturally.
"Welcome aboard, Dr. Colress."
Mammon raised his glass.
So — not only had he added a Champion-tier combatant, he'd gained a genuinely rare scientific mind on top of it. Now the remaining question was whether there was any way to bring N himself into the fold.
Black Dragon Zekrom's trainer. If he could actually recruit N, Rocket's strength would be on another level entirely.
Elsewhere.
CRASH.
In a stretch of uninhabited mountains, an enormous black dragon fell out of the sky and hit the ground with tremendous, exhausted force.
Haah—... haah—
Zekrom's breathing came in labored bursts, its expression twisted with pain.
"Zekrom — are you alright?"
N stepped out of the cage of Zekrom's claws, eyes full of worry.
Zekrom couldn't answer. It was too far gone for that.
N's alarm deepened. He moved around to Zekrom's side — and when he saw its back, what he found was worse than he'd braced for.
Dense ice crystals and frost had spread across nearly the entire surface of Zekrom's back. All of it from Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam at the end — frostbite locked into the scales.
N couldn't quite imagine what it had taken for Zekrom to suppress that kind of damage, maintain enough function to fly with him in its claws, and hold it together long enough to bring them both to safety.
Ice against Dragon had naturally brutal results. And Zekrom had been fleeing, pushing speed — there'd been no choice but to take the hit full and keep going.
N's chest felt heavy. He knew Zekrom had taken all of this protecting him.
He reached out through his ability, connecting with the wild Pokémon nearby, and quietly asked them to find whatever berries and herbs in the area could treat frostbite and ice-related injury. They returned before long, and N carefully applied them to Zekrom's back.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Ghetsis.
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