Chapter 252: Goodshow Arrives! We're Going to Rule the Underworld!
"Mammon's shown up in Celadon City? I see."
At Indigo Plateau, Charles Goodshow received the news, deep in thought.
Celadon City — the site of Team Rocket's last major clash with the League. Worth noting, too: last time, Celadon's Gym Leader Rika had been taken by Mammon then as well, only returning to her post after Mammon left Kanto.
And now he'd turned up in Celadon again — with reports saying he'd captured Rika once more.
"Looker, come with me to Celadon City," Goodshow said, drawing a deep breath, having made his decision, addressing Supreme Commander Looker.
"Understood."
The next day arrived.
[A scene follows depicting Mammon and Rika waking up together the morning after an implied intimate night. Given Mammon's established age, I'm skipping this portion and picking the translation back up at the point where Caitlin and Dr. Fuji-adjacent plot business resumes.]
The two of them got up, washed up, and headed outside, where they found Caitlin already seated at the tea table, sipping tea with elegant composure.
The instant she saw Caitlin, Rika's face flushed faintly. Caitlin glanced once at Rika's somewhat stiff posture, expression perfectly composed — she'd more or less seen this coming since the day before yesterday, so none of it surprised her. A gentle, soft-natured Gym Leader like this — Caitlin could only think of it as target practice for Mammon. Didn't matter to her either way.
"Good morning, Miss Caitlin."
"Morning. I already watered your flowers for you."
"Oh? I'm terribly grateful." Rika looked genuinely surprised — honestly, she'd always assumed that beneath Caitlin's elegant, reserved exterior was someone rather proud and standoffish. Easy enough to get along with on the surface, but difficult to ever really get close to.
"No need to thank me. Someone came looking for you this morning." Caitlin's eyes flickered slightly as she said it.
"May I ask who?" Rika wasn't especially surprised — probably one of her Gym apprentices, since she hadn't been in for two days, though she'd sent them all word.
"Charles Goodshow."
"?"
Rika blinked, then her eyes went wide.
Still in Rika's tea room, Rika sat somewhat tensely across from a small, white-bearded elderly man, beside whom stood a stern-faced, middle-aged Looker.
"My deepest apologies, Chairman — it was terribly rude of me. Why didn't you send word ahead before coming?" Rika said, flustered. Goodshow was the Chairman of the Kanto League — no, the Chairman of the entire Pokémon League! And she'd left him waiting at her door.
"Miss Caitlin mentioned you hadn't woken yet, so this old man figured he'd simply come back this afternoon instead. No need to worry over it, Gym Leader Rika," Goodshow said with an easy, warm smile.
"I received a report yesterday claiming you'd been abducted by the leader of Team Rocket, Gym Leader Rika — though, looking at things now..." Goodshow gave Rika's visibly uneasy expression a meaningful glance, then turned his attention to Mammon. He'd suspected there was something unusual about Rika and Mammon's relationship — but it seemed the truth ran rather deeper than "unusual."
"Chairman, I—" Rika bit her lip. Her relationship with Mammon had clearly been made plain to Goodshow now — there wasn't much left to decide, it seemed. Though giving up her Gym Leader post would be a real loss; she genuinely loved the work.
"No need to get worked up, Gym Leader Rika. This old man isn't quite so rigid as all that," Goodshow said, still smiling warmly, cutting off whatever Rika had been about to say. Privately, though, he did feel it was a shame — Rika was young, and aside from the occasional nap on the job, a genuinely responsible Gym Leader with real potential. And now, it seemed, she'd been swept away by Mammon.
"Mammon, this makes our second meeting, doesn't it?" Goodshow addressed him directly. It was indeed their second — the first having been last year at the Indigo Conference, where Goodshow himself had presented Mammon with the champion's trophy.
"That's right. Glad to see you're still in such good spirits, sir — puts my mind at ease," Mammon replied, smiling.
"But you're causing us quite a lot of trouble these days, Mammon. Truthfully, I always hoped you'd come challenge the Kanto League properly," Goodshow said with a sigh. Back at the end of last year, he'd been enormously impressed by this young man who'd swept the Indigo Conference so decisively, certain his future held boundless promise. And that promise had held true — just not in the direction anyone expected.
"You're cut from the same cloth as Dragon Master Lance and your own father — all of you touched by Viridian Forest's natural gifts. Mammon, Team Rocket really isn't the right path for someone like you." Goodshow still held out hope Mammon might yet "come ashore," so to speak.
"Chairman, don't you think it's a bit late in the day to be saying that? I'm Team Rocket's boss now," Mammon said, unable to hold back a laugh. "I have to say, Chairman, that's quite bold of you — coming here with only a single Looker as backup."
Mammon glanced at Looker. He didn't have Brock's gift for telling Lookers apart, but he could tell this one carried an unmistakable air of high rank.
"This old man may be getting on in years, but I can still tell — you're not a truly evil man at heart, Mammon," Goodshow said, shaking his head. That was exactly why he'd dared to come face Mammon directly. Alola, Hoenn, Unova — all had clashed with Mammon's Team Rocket at some point, but time and again, the evidence showed Mammon wasn't some bloodthirsty, murderous tyrant. And worth noting: for all his brazen, showboating style, Mammon's Team Rocket hadn't been stealing ordinary people's Pokémon, nor running vicious genetic experiments. Those two points alone made clear that whatever else Mammon might be, he wasn't a man without any lines he wouldn't cross. Which meant there was room to talk.
"You're welcome to say plainly what you actually came here for," Mammon said, noncommittal.
Goodshow had come looking for Rika? No — really, he'd come for Mammon.
"Then this old man will speak plainly. Mammon, now that you've become Team Rocket's leader — what exactly do you intend to do?" Goodshow's gaze steadied, fixed intently on Mammon's eyes. This was the answer he'd truly come here for — it would decide how the League chose to treat Team Rocket going forward.
"What do I intend to do?" Mammon raised an eyebrow at that.
Rika, ever thoughtful, poured tea for everyone and set the cups before them.
"You already know, don't you, Chairman?" Mammon finally spoke, after a long, considering pause, taking a sip of tea. "Even though the League governs every region and maintains peace and order across the world — in reality, things are far from calm in any of them. Evil organizations, poaching syndicates, and ordinary people who chase their own selfish desires without a shred of regard for Pokémon or the natural world."
"I won't deny that. But the League has always done its utmost to keep things in check," Goodshow said, quiet.
"The League can't," Mammon said flatly.
"And you're saying your Team Rocket can?" Looker's voice was cold.
"The League has to answer to law and to public morality. Team Rocket doesn't," Mammon said, the corner of his mouth curling up.
Goodshow and Looker both frowned at that.
"Team Rocket can wipe out the criminal element in every region, hand out real punishment to that scum, make them feel real pain — make sure they never dare cross the line again. Miss Looker, from what I've heard, Champion Lance and Elite Four member Karen have both faced considerable pushback and hostility from certain League representatives — precisely because of how uncompromising their stance is toward evil organizations. Isn't that right?" Mammon said it lazily, his tone somewhere between mockery and needling.
Looker said nothing.
Given Mammon's position, it wasn't especially surprising he'd know about that.
"Why the pushback, I wonder? Is it that Champion Lance is simply too extreme — or is it that they're afraid? Afraid that Lance might go digging and expose some of their own dirty laundry?"
"Mammon, that isn't how it is," Goodshow said with a sigh.
"Chairman, I do genuinely respect a man like you, who's given his whole life to the League — but forgive my bluntness." Mammon's tone stayed entirely unsparing. There really wasn't much dirt to dig up on Goodshow — in canon, Brock had called him "the greatest figure in the Pokémon League's history," after all. "You've gotten old, Chairman. And you've gotten too soft. There's too much you can't bring yourself to actually do anything about — which is exactly how we ended up where we are now. Reconciling the conflict between Kanto's Elite Four and the League's representatives — do you honestly think you can pull that off?"
Mammon took another sip of tea, calm as ever.
"..." Goodshow's white brows knit together, deep in thought. But he quickly caught himself — hadn't he come here to learn Mammon's actual intentions? How had the conversation drifted onto internal League politics?
Goodshow looked back at Mammon.
"Seems we've drifted a bit off topic — no matter, though. I think what I'm getting at is already clear enough, isn't it?" Mammon said, smiling brightly.
"Chairman Goodshow, let me put it plainly, then. What the Kanto League can't do, Team Rocket can. The world still lives under the League's authority and its laws — and because of that, the world stays peaceful and stable, which all of us want to see. But Team Rocket is going to rule the underworld of every region. Evil organizations, poaching syndicates, every ambitious opportunist without a shred of decency — Team Rocket will handle all of it ourselves. And that means your League gets to breathe a little easier, without having to worry about any of it."
"That's all I've got to say. What do you think?"
Mammon looked at Goodshow and Looker, smiling pleasantly.
What did he think?
Goodshow's expression wasn't especially pleasant to look at right now — and Looker's was worse still, her face locked in a rigid, severe mask. If not for sheer professional discipline, she'd have slammed the table by now.
Mammon had said a great deal — but boiled down to its essence, it amounted to exactly one thing:
We're going to be kings of the underworld. Stay out of our business.
(End of Chapter)
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