Chapter 124: Steven! You Can Always Count on Me!
Rustboro City. A storm was coming.
With the League coordinator's guidance, residents of Rustboro's northwest district evacuated quickly and without incident.
The Devon Corporation building had been empty for hours.
Mammon was sprawled in the president's chair, sipping coffee and scrolling through forums. Beside him, Tapu Fini was nibbling at a small cake in tiny, contented bites. Armored Mewtwo stood motionless before the floor-to-ceiling window like a statue. Kagura sat on the sofa touching up her nails. Caitlin sat on the other end, wiping down her Poké Balls with a clean cloth.
Joseph Stone, meanwhile, could not sit still. These three were far too calm. Surely they knew what was about to happen.
"President Stone. You seem tense."
Mammon finally looked up from his screen, smiling pleasantly.
"The three of you — if you leave now, there's still time."
Joseph hesitated, then said it anyway. He still wanted them gone. In his estimation, three people against the full League force Steven was leading was simply not possible.
"You're all still so young."
"And isn't that exactly why it's worth doing something that matters?" Mammon rose from the chair.
He looked down through the clean glass. The League coordinator had already arrived at the front of the Devon building with her officers.
"There's a line I've always liked," Mammon said, his tone unhurried and almost literary. "Live like summer flowers in their glory; die like autumn leaves in their stillness."
"Life is brief. And in that brief span — to burn at full brightness, to chase something beautiful and dazzling to its absolute limit." He glanced back at Joseph. "Isn't that a life worth living?"
"It's not the same thing." Joseph shook his head.
"It is, though. For me — I want others to recognize my brilliance. To truly remember the name that belongs to me, and no one else."
The corner of Mammon's mouth slowly curved.
BOOM.
The heavy office doors blew open. A Metagross filled the doorway.
"Father!"
Steven's eyes went straight past Metagross the moment he stepped through, landing immediately on Joseph Stone.
"Steven!" Joseph's face lit up with relief.
Kagura and Caitlin rose slowly from their seats.
"Steven-sensei, that was a little violent, don't you think." Mammon looked at him pleasantly. Steven had come up alone — no one behind him. He'd actually come by himself?
"This door wasn't cheap. Kind of a shame to wreck it like that."
"Mammon!"
Steven's eyes sharpened. He held Mammon's gaze, then flicked a glance to Kagura and Caitlin.
"Why did you take my father hostage?!"
He genuinely didn't understand why Mammon had targeted Joseph Stone specifically.
"You'd have to ask President Stone about that. I think he'll tell you." Mammon shrugged.
Steven frowned and looked at his father. One glance at Joseph's complicated expression was enough to make his stomach drop.
His father had been hiding something. They'd need to talk after this.
"Mammon, we've sealed the entire area. You have nowhere to run." Steven's voice was flat.
"Run?"
Mammon's eyebrow arched. He gave Steven a look that was half-smile, half-something else entirely.
"I haven't seen you in a few days, Steven-sensei, and you've already picked up Wallace-sensei's bad habits."
He rolled his hand loosely, voice dry as dust.
"Why would we run? If anything — you came up here alone to face us. Now that takes nerve."
In the open ground not far from Devon Corporation:
"Is Steven really okay going up there by himself?" Wallace was visibly uneasy about his best friend's safety.
"Steven isn't reckless. It was his decision to go alone — we wait for his signal." Cynthia was also less than fully at ease, but Steven had insisted, and they'd agreed.
"Something's happening up there!"
Nemona's eyes were sharp. She caught the explosion on the top floor before anyone else registered the sound.
Smoke billowed from the building. Several figures came flying out of it.
"They're coming down!" Shujiro called out. The veteran trainer had been invited to join this operation — fighting a criminal organization wasn't something he'd turn down.
Mammon descended through the air, carried on a current of Armored Mewtwo's psychic force, and touched down smoothly on the ground below. Armored Mewtwo and Tapu Fini landed beside him.
Salamence brought Kagura and Caitlin down alongside. Steven's Metagross came last, carrying both Steven and Joseph Stone, landing on the opposite side from Mammon.
That explosion up top — Metagross had used Psychic to force the fight out of the building.
"Relocating the battlefield. Not a bad idea."
Mammon brushed a little dust from his jacket. He hadn't planned to fight inside the building anyway. The space was too tight.
"Father — please get clear." Steven turned to Joseph.
Joseph looked at the three of them, then opened his mouth to say something to Steven — then closed it again. He exhaled quietly and stepped back.
Cynthia and the others arrived at the scene moments later.
"Well, well, well — look who we have here." Mammon's smile spread and refused to stop. His gaze swept across the assembled faces one by one and came to rest on Giovanni. "Wallace-sensei, Cynthia, and — Dad. Didn't expect to see you here."
"One, two, three, four, five, six." Kagura counted the line opposite them and clicked her tongue. "Six Champion-tiers? Hoenn League really went all out, didn't they."
"Mammon." Giovanni's expression was complicated.
"Caitlin." Cynthia's gaze found Caitlin immediately. Her lips pressed together.
Caitlin noticed. She met Cynthia's eyes with a faint, composed smile. She was calm this time — genuinely calm.
"So these are Team Rocket's people?" Nemona studied them with open curiosity. They were nothing like she'd pictured members of a criminal organization. Especially Mammon and Caitlin — he was sharp and handsome, she was poised and striking. Even Kagura, who wasn't conventionally dazzling, had an intensity to her that immediately commanded attention.
"Mammon. Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Giovanni's voice, always magnetic, dropped to something very quiet.
"Like what?" The smile faded slightly from Mammon's face.
"That I embarrassed you?"
His tone was flat.
"'Giovanni of the Earth' — such a distinguished Gym Leader. And his son joined Team Rocket. What a disgrace to his father." He paused. "Do you want me to say it for you?"
The scene went very still.
Steven and the others went silent. Kagura's eyes lit up — the man across from them was Mammon's father?
Oh damn. This just got interesting.
"I never thought that." Giovanni's expression was heavy.
"Come back, Mammon. Whatever your reasons — this isn't the path for you."
"And now, of all times, you want to lecture me." The corner of Mammon's mouth curved, cold.
"Giovanni, when it comes down to it — you never actually tried to understand me. The version of me you raised was a doll with a future you'd already arranged and a label with your name on it."
Giovanni's face changed. Something behind his eyes went genuinely regretful.
"Gym Leader Giovanni, there's no point," Steven said quietly. "Whatever you say right now, Mammon won't listen."
"He's right," Shujiro agreed. "Let's take them down first. Once they're in custody, there'll be time to talk him around."
He didn't know the full story between them. But he could see it clearly enough — the one called Mammon was far gone, and clearly had a deep aversion to Giovanni. Something from the past, probably.
Poor kid. But this wasn't the moment for sympathy.
Today the man had kidnapped Devon Corporation's president. Shujiro didn't want to think about what tomorrow would look like.
"Understood." Giovanni took a slow breath.
"Are we doing this?" Mammon's voice shifted — lighter, easier, almost bored. "Fair warning: six against three — and you're still short."
"You absolute—!" Wallace had heard enough. His fair face darkened considerably. That line again, delivered with that exact casual arrogance—
"I'm simply stating facts. Does Wallace-sensei genuinely believe you can beat us?"
Mammon looked at him with exaggerated surprise.
Steven, Wallace, and Cynthia, who all knew Mammon well enough, weren't particularly shocked — though Wallace's jaw tightened. Nemona, however, stood there stunned. Shujiro fell into flat silence.
"Is this guy serious?" Nemona snapped out of it, incredulous. "It's six against three! Six Champion-tiers!"
"That's just Mammon. But he really is that strong — everyone stay sharp." Steven's voice was level. He looked around at the assembled group and began assigning matchups.
"Wallace. Can you handle Caitlin?"
Caitlin was the weakest of the three — and against Wallace, that was an efficient use of their numbers.
"Obviously! Leave her to me — you can always count on me!" Wallace declared, thumping his chest with full confidence.
Steven's eyelid twitched.
He'd heard that exact phrase before. Honestly, after last time, he wasn't sure he trusted it. But this wasn't the moment to say so.
Cynthia didn't object either. She wanted to face Caitlin herself — but she wasn't about to let that cloud her judgment. She knew what mattered most.
Mammon.
"For Kagura—" Steven considered for a moment. "Shujiro, Nemona. The two of you take her. How's that?"
"Agreed." Shujiro gave a steady nod.
"On it! Leave it to us, Steven!" Nemona's smile was bright and enormous. She was the new Champion of Paldea — and fighting alongside a senior trainer who'd caught a legendary Regirock? She liked those odds just fine.
"That leaves Cynthia, Giovanni, and me against Mammon."
Steven's eyes settled on Mammon across the gap.
Of the three, Mammon was what mattered. Defeating Caitlin and Kagura meant nothing if they couldn't bring him down.
"Finished planning?"
Mammon glanced over when the other side went quiet, smiling pleasantly.
"I think you're wasting your time — you can't win — but you've put together quite a production here, so it seems only fair to let you prepare."
"Mammon. Arrogance is where your defeat begins."
Steven's eyes narrowed. Each word landed like a stone.
"Oh? Earn the right to say that first." Something shifted in Mammon's expression — a brightness, sharper than before. "Since we're here — let me show you something. Evolution beyond evolution."
He raised his palm.
A single Key Stone gleamed in the light for all of them to see.
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