Chapter 329: Serena: "What's In It For Me If I Join Team Rocket?"
Time slipped by, minute by minute.
"I think... I need some time to consider this."
Diantha finally answered, sounding thoroughly worn out.
She genuinely had no idea what to do right now. Send Viola and her sister to him? There was no way she could bring herself to do that. But go and serve as Mammon's own personal maid herself? She wasn't willing to accept that either.
Sure, as Kalos's Champion, she carried the resolve to give everything for the people of Kalos and the region itself — that conviction had been with her from the very moment she'd become Champion.
But honestly...
This wasn't what she'd signed up for!
"Of course, I understand. I'll give you a day, then — same time tomorrow, you can give me your answer."
Mammon smiled, unhurried, his tone as smooth and courteous as a proper gentleman.
He had absolutely nothing to fear here, no worry about pushing the Kalos League to its limit — whatever happened, he'd come out ahead regardless. And it was precisely because Diantha understood this that she found herself so genuinely troubled.
"Please excuse me."
Diantha left in a hurry, badly in need of a moment to calm down and think this through rationally.
"How genuinely entertaining."
Watching her retreating figure, Mammon couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Dawn, what do you think Diantha's going to decide?"
Mammon asked Platinum.
Platinum blinked, startled by the question.
"...She'll probably 'sacrifice' herself, I'd guess. To Diantha, taking care of your daily needs, Mr. Mammon, seems to genuinely terrify her."
Platinum thought it over and answered him honestly.
Hmm, seems like Mr. Mammon's taken an interest in both Diantha and that reporter lady? Platinum didn't quite follow the logic here. If it was just about taking care of Mammon's daily needs, she felt like she could easily do that herself. Surely Caitlin would be perfectly happy to as well — so why go through the trouble of pressuring poor Diantha, who was, well, considerably "older"?
Mr. Mammon must have his own reasoning behind it, Platinum figured to herself.
"Ha — the way she looked at me, like I was some kind of wild beast. Tsk~ though, to be fair, she wasn't wrong," Mammon chuckled.
How to put it — that woman really was foolish, honestly, or rather, it hadn't even occurred to her to try negotiating instead.
"Come on, let's go find Serena."
—
Lumiose City's Central Plaza sat right at the heart of the city — home to Prism Tower itself. The so-called Prism Tower was, in fact, the Lumiose Gym, led by Clemont, Ash's traveling companion from the anime.
Not that Mammon had come here to challenge the Lumiose Gym, though.
Serena was still dressed in her signature black top and red skirt, the outfit tracing the elegant lines of her figure, her black over-the-knee socks lending her a distinctly youthful, spirited air.
But right now, this girl from Vaniville Town seemed to have something weighing on her mind, staring at her phone as though lost in thought.
"Miss Serena."
"Mr. Mammon, Miss Caitlin, Dawn."
At the sound of that warm, mellow male voice, Serena snapped back to attention, greeting the three of them.
"Sorry, we ran into Diantha on the way over here, and ended up talking for a while."
Mammon apologized with a smile.
"It's fine. Dawn already told me. It hasn't actually been that long."
Serena shook her head — she genuinely disliked people who weren't punctual, but Platinum had already texted her explaining they'd run into Diantha along the way. Since there was a reasonable explanation, Serena wasn't about to make a fuss over nothing.
"Was there something Diantha wanted with you all?"
Serena couldn't help but be curious, given that Diantha was, after all, the Kalos League's own Champion.
"Yeah, she wanted to discuss some organizational matters with me. How to put it — I suppose you could say she wanted to talk about cooperating with our organization."
Mammon thought it over and answered — figuring that description wasn't wrong, exactly.
"Ohh." Serena nodded, only half-understanding — she was still a fresh-faced rookie, not especially familiar with the way major organizations dealt with each other. Besides, she still had no real idea what Mammon's organization actually was.
Still, if it was something even Diantha wanted to negotiate cooperation with, it must be pretty impressive.
"In that case, we'll leave it in your hands, Serena — we're new to Lumiose City and still pretty unfamiliar with the place."
"No need to thank me, leave it to me."
Serena flashed a lovely smile.
"Mr. Mammon, Lumiose City is divided into six main avenues — Spring, Summer, Autumn, East, South, and North — plus six plazas, including this Central Plaza we're standing in."
Serena explained to the three of them.
"Where would you like to start?"
"Given the two lovely ladies I've got with me here, I think we should probably start with the fashion district."
Mammon said with a teasing smile.
"Mm~ then let's head to Spring Avenue — that's where all the fashion boutiques are, every girl's favorite avenue."
Serena didn't hesitate at all — she genuinely loved that part of the city herself. She was, after all, a girl who loved fashion — what girl didn't love looking her best?
"Alright, let's go, go, go."
And with that, Serena led the four of them off toward Spring Avenue. She genuinely knew Lumiose City inside and out — she was Kalos-native, after all, and with Lumiose serving as the region's central transit hub, she'd lost count of how many times she'd passed through.
Though the plan had been to explore the whole city over the day, in practice, most of their time ended up spent entirely on Spring Avenue.
Serena knew "fashion" inside and out, and both Platinum and Caitlin were, themselves, remarkably striking girls.
Yeah — though the sheer scale of Platinum and Caitlin's shopping habits genuinely astonished Serena.
Serena's own family was fairly well-off, honestly — both her parents had made a name for themselves in their respective fields, comfortably upper-middle-class. But even so, she found herself genuinely stunned by the two women's spending, especially Caitlin's.
Caitlin: "How about this one?"
Mammon: "Looks great."
Caitlin: "And this one?"
Platinum: "Pretty, pretty, pretty~"
Caitlin: "This one, then?"
Serena: "Miss Caitlin, honestly, you look elegant in literally anything."
Caitlin: "This style, and that dress over there — wrap them both up for me."
What kind of absurd, unfathomable wealth is this?!
Serena figured all three of them must come from extremely privileged families, which is why she'd taken them somewhere fairly upscale to shop.
Platinum wasn't quite as extravagant as Caitlin, but the moment she saw something she genuinely liked, she'd buy it without so much as glancing at the price tag either.
How was Serena even supposed to describe this?
Genuinely hard to process. Is this what a "money's no object" young lady looks like in real life?
—
"Here, have a drink. Why'd you stop browsing?"
Outside the clothing store, Serena was resting while Platinum and Caitlin continued shopping. Mammon walked over carrying a bag of freshly-bought juices and handed one to Serena.
"Just needed a short break." Serena took a sip of pineapple juice and immediately felt herself relax considerably.
Then she glanced over at Mammon — Jirachi and Victini hovering beside him, Tapu Fini trailing close behind, all three Pokémon holding a cup of juice of their own.
Honestly, the whole scene had a warm, faintly comedic charm to it.
Serena had a sharp eye — she recognized these Pokémon instantly. These were all Legendary and Mythical Pokémon!
Mr. Mammon really is quite the mysterious figure.
"Mr. Mammon, are Dawn's and Miss Caitlin's families both really wealthy?" Serena couldn't help but finally ask.
"You could say that, yeah." Mammon raised an eyebrow, more or less understanding why Serena would ask.
"Dawn is the young lady of House Berlitz, from Sinnoh — the Berlitz family is Sinnoh's wealthiest family."
"Caitlin's also the young lady of an extremely wealthy Sinnoh family, so yeah, they both come from genuinely privileged backgrounds."
Hearing Mammon's explanation, Serena wasn't especially surprised.
"Though neither of them keeps much contact with their families right now — everything they're spending is entirely their own money," Mammon added.
"Huh? But..."
Serena blinked at that, but her gut reaction was disbelief. Come on, look at how freely they're spending — none of that's family money?
"They both draw a salary from the organization. Caitlin's had financial independence for a good while now, and Dawn, while her savings aren't huge, has a decent amount put away — and if she's ever genuinely short on cash, she can always draw an advance from the organization."
Mammon said with a smile.
"???"
Serena genuinely wanted to ask — what kind of organization is this, and are you hiring?
And she still hadn't forgotten what Platinum had mentioned to her the day before.
"Sounds kind of wild, doesn't it? If you're interested in joining us, Serena, I could offer you excellent terms too."
Mammon settled onto the bench outside the store, patting the spot beside him, smiling at Serena.
"Can you tell me more?"
Serena didn't refuse, taking a seat next to him, genuinely curious.
She wasn't put off by what Mammon had described so far, and honestly wanted to understand it more thoroughly.
"The organization's called Team Rocket. It used to be a criminal, evil organization, honestly."
"Huh?"
That opening line completely floored Serena.
"Yeah, Team Rocket used to be an evil organization, wanted by the Kanto League. But that was the past — I took down the previous Team Rocket boss myself and took over the organization."
"Ohh, I see."
Serena nodded, understanding now. That explained things. After all, if Diantha herself had been in direct contact with Mammon, that meant he couldn't be a genuinely bad person.
"So what's the organization's actual mission and goals?" Serena thought it over and asked.
"First priority is eliminating dark organizations and hunter/poacher groups. I have zero tolerance for the truly evil ones — I despise them more than anything."
Mammon said this with absolute conviction.
Serena gazed at Mammon's handsome profile, her eyes lighting up with admiration. Mr. Mammon is really cool!
"Second priority is growing our business and making money. Don't let the fact that we're technically a private organization fool you — my Alpaca Corporation is doing incredibly well, actually. Our entertainment complexes, Pokémon ride-rental shops, and so on are all quite well-known in other regions."
Mammon said with a smile.
Amazing!
Honestly, Serena had been about to ask exactly this — if Team Rocket's top priority was eliminating other evil organizations, where did the funding for that even come from? Operating across multiple regions meant the organization had to be genuinely massive — where was all that money to support its members coming from?
Well, that made sense now.
"Anything else you'd like to ask?" Mammon prompted her, thoughtfully.
"So if I joined Team Rocket, Mr. Mammon, would you..."
Serena hesitated a moment. She wanted to know what kind of treatment she'd receive if she joined, and what exactly she'd stand to gain.
Otherwise, what would even be the point of joining in the first place?
Personally, she genuinely liked the organization's stated mission of eliminating dark organizations, at least. As for whether Mammon might be deceiving her? Well, setting aside that Serena trusted her own instincts pretty firmly — the fact that even Diantha herself was willing to negotiate with Mammon surely proved he could be trusted, didn't it?
"For that, let me give you a quick rundown."
The corner of Mammon's mouth curled up.
Clearly, Serena was already all but locked in.
Excellent. Team Rocket's about to gain another powerful recruit!
(End of chapter)
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