Chapter 343: Team Rocket's Epic-Tier Grand Event Mission! Lumiose City!
Lysandre's Research Institute.
"So this is the young man who's now Team Rocket's boss, is it?"
Lysandre studied the finished video, sinking into thought. He remembered him — he'd seen him once before, at Café Rising Sun.
Of course, Lysandre hadn't known who Mammon was at the time — he'd simply noted the young man carried an unusual air about him.
"Oh? You've met him, boss?"
Beside Lysandre, Malva, wearing her pink sunglasses, looked genuinely surprised.
Yeah — she'd been the one to find this video, and had specifically come to the institute to have Lysandre watch it too. After all, Lysandre normally had eyes only for his own ideals — he wouldn't ordinarily have time to browse whatever was trending online.
He simply wasn't that idle.
"Ah~ crossed paths once, though we never actually spoke," Lysandre said flatly.
"So what do you make of it, boss?" Malva cared a fair amount about this.
"What do you think?" Lysandre turned the question back on her.
"Team Rocket is a genuinely severe variable," Malva answered.
"But going purely by this video, doesn't it seem like Team Rocket's own leader shares an ideal just as beautiful as ours?"
Team Rocket's demonstrated strength really was too staggering to ignore — Malva couldn't help but consider it. Otherwise, given Team Flare's own activities, there was no way Team Rocket would simply let them be.
"No, Malva. You're only seeing the surface of it."
Lysandre's face carried the composed dignity of a lion, his eyes glinting sharply.
"Is the version of a person shown on camera ever their genuine, true self? This Team Rocket leader is a genuinely intelligent man."
Lysandre's tone remained perfectly even.
"Based on the intelligence currently available, he leads an organization that's already spread its reach across Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Alola, on top of its home base in Kanto — Team Rocket's power has grown genuinely enormous."
"Combine that with the sheer number of powerful trainers within its ranks, and you could reasonably say it already stands capable of confronting the League directly, head-on."
"Do you genuinely believe an organization like that, and a man like this Mammon, could possibly lack ambition?"
Though Lysandre had never truly spoken with Mammon and didn't know him personally, he didn't believe a single word of what Mammon had said in that interview.
"That's not possible," Malva said, shaking her head.
"Exactly. Not only does he have ambition — his ambition is genuinely enormous. He understands perfectly well that this world's fundamental order rests entirely on the League system."
"Which is precisely why he has no real desire to fight the League to the death. Instead, he's leveraging this interview to reshape the public's mental image of Team Rocket, erasing its old identity as an evil organization."
"With that done, Team Rocket is no longer framed as evil, no longer something everyone would rally to destroy on sight — and the League loses any real justification to move against them."
Lysandre spoke this with cold clarity.
"But the League surely wouldn't actually believe what Mammon said." Malva's brow furrowed.
"Does that matter?" Lysandre gave a low chuckle.
"Team Rocket is simply too powerful now. What would it actually cost the League to completely wipe them out?"
"If Team Rocket were still the same indiscriminately evil dark organization it used to be, the League could resolve to crush it regardless of the cost, fighting to the finish no matter the consequences."
"But this interview — this 'personal confession' from Team Rocket's own boss — isn't just aimed at the foolish masses. It's also a gesture of goodwill directed straight at the League."
"'From here on, Team Rocket will stop committing evil acts. Instead, we're Dark Knights, clearing out other dark organizations and preserving order across the underworld.'"
Lysandre said, coldly.
Malva licked her dry lips, suddenly understanding.
"Raw power, paired with a publicly declared ideology — Team Rocket has used both to successfully secure a lasting coexistence with the League."
"This Mammon really is remarkably clever."
Lysandre's eyes flickered restlessly, offering his praise without any reservation whatsoever.
"But surely the League can't be unaware of the threat Team Rocket poses. Letting Team Rocket keep expanding — what if, one day, Team Rocket decides to overthrow the League outright?"
Malva still had her doubts.
"That depends entirely on whatever private negotiations happen between Team Rocket and the League. There will almost certainly be some kind of secret arrangement between them — but even if the League doesn't move against Team Rocket head-on, there's no way they'd simply sit back and watch it grow to an uncontrollable degree without doing anything at all."
Lysandre said this plainly.
"None of it matters, though. This world... must undergo a cleansing." Lysandre said gravely.
He agreed, in principle, with the ideal Mammon had voiced in the interview — but Lysandre believed Mammon's own vision was still far too limited.
Is the world's darkness and filth really confined solely to dark organizations and poachers?
No! Far from it!
Those foolish, greedy, coarse masses — THEY were the world's true root of ruin. Without eliminating people like them, how could this world ever manifest true beauty, true purity?
"..." Malva opened her mouth, but held herself back from saying anything further.
As one of Team Flare's own executives, she understood Lysandre's true purpose perfectly well — but was it genuinely right? Malva remained ambivalent — honestly, she didn't fully know either way. But regardless, she didn't think there was anything fundamentally wrong with Lysandre's vision.
So she let it stand, unspoken agreement.
"The plan is nearly ready to enter its final stage, Malva. When the time comes, you should return to the organization proper."
Lysandre said.
"That soon?"
"Yes. The Zygarde experiments have reached their final stage — Xerosic is already fine-tuning the program. It's controllable now."
"But we still haven't located the second Zygarde Core, have we?"
Malva frowned.
"We've already traced its whereabouts. And regardless — even incomplete, Zygarde's power is unmatched."
Lysandre carried absolute, unshakable confidence in Zygarde.
"Yveltal's Cocoon of Destruction has also been found. I'll have it transported to Geosenge Town to activate the Ultimate Weapon."
"This world's purification will begin right here — starting from the Kalos region!"
Lysandre's tone had lost all its earlier composure now, fervor bleeding through every word.
His dream was, at last, within reach.
"Once the Zygarde experiment is fully complete, we'll declare to this entire land — that Team Flare's 'purification' has arrived!"
Malva said nothing, silent. Could this actually succeed?
Malva glanced out the window, unable to shake a genuinely uneasy feeling.
"By the way, how's that boy Alan doing?"
"He's about finished with his training, I'd say. His strength's coming along fairly well," Malva answered casually. Alan was a young man Lysandre had personally taken an interest in, someone with genuine potential.
Credit where due — Lysandre's eye for talent really was sharp. Though, in Malva's own assessment, the boy still had a fair bit of green left in him. His skill, at least, had grown remarkably fast — already Elite-Four-caliber by now.
"Good. I hope he doesn't let me down," Lysandre said, nodding.
—
After bidding farewell to Baraz and Meray, Mammon and the other two returned to Lumiose City. By the time they arrived at the villa, Serena was already waiting for them.
"Mr. Mammon, you're back!"
The moment the door opened, Serena rushed forward to greet them — and behind her stood another girl with her hair tied into twin ponytails.
"Haven't seen you in a few days, and you're still as adorable as ever, Serena." Mammon teased her first, then turned his attention to the girl standing beside her.
This girl was currently staring at him with visibly excited eyes.
She had healthy, tan-toned skin, delicate features, big eyes, dressed in a pink short-sleeved top with denim short-shorts underneath. Long, shapely legs, chestnut-brown hair pulled into twin ponytails.
"And this is...?"
"Mr. Mammon, hello! I'm Shauna, from Vaniville Town too! I'm a huge fan of yours!"
The girl named Shauna introduced herself to Mammon with bright, energetic enthusiasm.
"Thank you so much for your support," Mammon replied with a smile.
He remembered her now — Shauna, one of Serena's game-canon rivals, though admittedly not quite as strong a rival as Calem.
"Shauna's a good friend of mine. When she heard I'd joined Team Rocket, she wanted to join too, so I brought her along. What do you think, Mr. Mammon?"
Shauna's talent was genuinely solid, and Serena figured this counted as recruiting a decent new member for the organization.
"Yes! Mr. Mammon, I love Team Rocket so much, please let me join! I promise I'll shine bright for the organization! I'll give my heart for it, yo!"
Shauna declared, thumping her substantial chest for emphasis, her voice ringing loud and clear.
Yeah — "giving your heart for Team Rocket" had recently become a genuinely popular catchphrase online, no one quite sure where it originated. Clearly, this girl had been spending plenty of time surfing the web.
"Shauna!" Serena couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed. Who taught you to talk like that?
"Haha~ no need to actually give your heart, that's a bit much. As long as we share the same ideals and put in the effort to eliminate dark organizations together, that's plenty."
Mammon couldn't help laughing at that.
"Ohh~ so we're fighting for a clear, blue sky!" Shauna saluted adorably, quoting Mammon's own interview line back at him.
"Mr. Mammon, I'm genuinely strong in a fight! Please give me all the missions you've got!"
Shauna was full of energy — sure, she was small and slight, but she genuinely believed she could pull her weight.
"Sure, sure. Have Serena help you download the app, then go pick a few missions for yourself."
Mammon watched the "legal loli's" twin ponytails bounce with every hop — probably a good feel, he mused.
"Heheh~! Thanks, boss!"
Shauna's smile was thoroughly endearing, and she immediately switched to a new title for him — she found "boss" a lot more evocative than "Mr. Mammon."
"An entertaining little thing." Watching Serena lead Shauna off to fiddle with the app, Caitlin offered her own observation.
"Yeah, plenty of youthful energy in her. And since she's a good friend of Serena's, her talent's probably decent too," Mammon said with a smile.
Right at that moment, his phone chimed twice.
"Hm?"
Mammon checked it — a message from Gladion.
"Well, well, well~ finally getting started, then?"
He glanced through it, the corner of his mouth slowly curling upward.
The message was simple enough: according to their mole inside Lysandre's research institute, the Zygarde experiment had reached its final stage — Team Flare had already begun quietly organizing their operation!
Which meant the moment Team Flare finally exposed itself wasn't far off at all.
"I've been waiting for exactly this moment~"
Mammon let out a soft chuckle. So — what came next...
—
Unova region, Nimbasa City, still.
"Ugh~ days without a mission really do feel like something's missing."
Fresh off finishing a training session with Touko, Mei lounged back against her vanity table in her pajamas, the two respectable weights on her chest squishing flat against the surface like pancakes.
Beside her, Touko's eyelid twitched furiously, internally screaming, You shameless cow!!
"So boring~"
"Stop being bored! We've got a mission!"
Touko suddenly gasped, startled.
"What?" Mei snapped back to life instantly, immediately grabbing her phone. Sure enough — pinned right at the top of the organization's app forum was a live, buzzing announcement.
"Epic-Tier Grand Mission: Lumiose City!"
(End of chapter)
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