Chapter 302: That Day, Actually, Was Me and Mammon on a Date
Why is she here?
Seeing the girl walking slowly toward them, Ash's group all froze.
Dressed in a kimono patterned with maple leaves, her face clean and pale, a red hairband holding back her hair, walking with an elegant, ladylike grace.
"Gym Leader Erika?"
Ash stared, astonished. Why would Erika be all the way out here? This region, after all, sat well to the north of Kanto — quite a distance from Celadon City.
Blue's eyes narrowed slightly, glancing over at Landorus, no longer making any further move to attack.
"One moment."
Erika offered Ash's group a faint smile, then stepped forward, looking up at Landorus.
"My apologies. They're all friends of mine — I'm sorry for the disturbance. I'll make sure they don't try entering the World Tree."
Erika bowed slightly to Landorus, smiling as she spoke.
"Tu~"
Landorus nodded, glanced once more at Ash's group, then turned and departed.
Watching this unfold, the group could only stare, thoroughly baffled.
"Phew~ good thing it was Landorus. If it had been Thundurus instead — harder to communicate with — even I might not have gotten through to it." Erika patted her chest in relief, turning back to face Ash and the others.
"Ash, what brings you all to World Tree Park?"
"World Tree Park?"
"Ah~ you didn't know? That's this ranch's actual name."
Erika tilted her head, a slender finger tapping her lips.
"Come to think of it, this really is odd — outsiders aren't supposed to be allowed in here at all. Did you three sneak your way in?"
...
Ash looked away in mild embarrassment, gazing off into the distance, even whistling a little to cover his guilt.
Watching him, Erika smiled gently.
"Sounds like I'll need to have a serious word with the staff — that kind of carelessness won't do at all."
"Also, Ash, you three should really leave as soon as possible. This park is home to a great many powerful Pokémon, some with rather violent temperaments. I'm fine here myself, but outsiders like you — they won't necessarily hold back."
Erika warned him, her impression of Ash genuinely favorable — a passionate, kind-hearted boy, brimming with a sense of justice. The kind of kid people naturally warmed to.
"Gym Leader Erika, may I ask why you're here? And from the way you're talking, you seem to know this place very well."
Blue asked, feigning confusion.
"Ah~ strictly speaking, I'm World Tree Park's manager." Erika blinked.
"What?"
"Manager? Like, upper management of this ranch?"
"But isn't this—"
Ash's group startled at that.
"That's right. Aside from handling Gym challengers, I usually come here to train whenever I have free time — the Pokémon here are exceptionally strong and skilled, excellent training partners." Erika answered with a smile.
"But Gym Leader Erika — isn't this Team Rocket's ranch?"
Ash pressed, his face scrunched with hesitation before finally asking.
Something flickered briefly across Erika's face at that — then smoothed back to normal. Blue, sharp as ever, quietly pulled Silver a step back from Erika. She'd sensed something off about this from the moment Erika appeared. This Celadon Gym Leader was clearly entangled with Team Rocket in some significant way — genuinely shocking, given Celadon's Gym was an official, League-sanctioned institution.
"So you already knew, Ash. Yes — World Tree Park does belong to Team Rocket."
Erika sighed softly.
"Then you—"
"Ash, do you remember that time I was with Mr. Mammon?"
Erika's composed, elegant smile returned.
Silver's expression shifted at that. This Erika has a connection to my brother?
"I remember." Ash's brow furrowed — of course he remembered. The wicked Mammon had kidnapped Erika.
"That incident might have given the wrong impression, thanks to how Mr. Mammon phrased things — he does have rather questionable taste in humor. In truth, I wasn't taken against my will at all."
Erika lowered her head slightly, a touch of bashfulness in her posture, one hand brushing back the dark hair at her forehead.
"That day, actually, was me and Mr. Mammon on a date."
Silence.
The moment Erika's words landed, the whole group fell utterly quiet. Ash and Misty stared, jaws slack, at Erika's uncharacteristically girlish, bashful demeanor. Brock's eye twitched. Blue, too, looked thoroughly stunned — a date? Is that even right?
Silver, though, processed it entirely differently from the other four — first surprise, then a thoughtful look settling over him as he studied Erika. If she's dating my brother... does that make her my sister-in-law? Silver mulled it over. His brother had found himself a girlfriend — good news, surely. Should he let their father know? Wait — hadn't there been several girls traveling with his brother back in Johto, all seeming rather close to him? In that case—
Could my brother actually be one of those "players" people talk about?
Silver's expression turned faintly bewildered. No, no — his brother wasn't like that. Probably just... a man of many feelings. Right. That must be it.
"But — but Mammon is Team Rocket's leader."
Finally recovering, even Ash's tone came out visibly conflicted.
"Ash, the Team Rocket of today is completely different from the Team Rocket of before. There's something else I should tell you, too." Erika shook her head.
"My relationship with Mr. Mammon has the full approval of Chairman Goodshow himself." Erika said with a smile.
"?!?"
Blue was floored all over again. Wait — is something wrong with Goodshow's judgment? Their own region's official, League-sanctioned Gym Leader, involved with Team Rocket's own boss — and he approved of it?? Not even remotely worried about Erika being lured away and recruited into Team Rocket herself??
Ash's brain simply refused to process any of it.
"In any case, Mammon and today's Team Rocket really aren't what you all imagine. You'll come to understand that, over time."
"For now, let me escort you all out of the park."
Seeing the group still visibly processing everything, Erika couldn't help a small laugh.
"Wait! Gym Leader Erika, I actually need to get into the World Tree." Ash spoke up quickly.
"Get into the World Tree? No human can enter the World Tree itself." Erika tilted her head, puzzled.
"Huh?" Ash blinked.
"The World Tree isn't actually a tree, not truly — it's a life form of an entirely different kind, with its own unique defense mechanism. Pokémon can enter it, but humans cannot. Any human who enters would simply be consumed."
Erika explained in detail.
"Even Mr. Mammon himself can't get inside."
"But—"
Ash's head practically doubled in size at that. How is that even possible? He believed Erika, of course — no reason for her to lie to him.
"And even if I didn't try to stop you, you still wouldn't be able to get in regardless. The World Tree currently has a great many Pokémon guardians — that Landorus you just met was only one of them. There's also Tornadus, Thundurus, Zapdos, and more."
"And beyond even them, an even more powerful guardian than Landorus lies dormant somewhere underground around the World Tree's perimeter. If you get too close to the tree itself, you risk waking it — and that really would be genuinely dangerous."
Erika's tone remained perfectly calm as she laid out the danger.
Right — the "strongest guardian" Erika referred to was, of course, Regigigas. And beyond even Regigigas, the World Tree housed a certain lazy house-cat of a Mythical Pokémon: Mew. Forcing one's way into the World Tree by sheer strength? Short of Mammon himself, or that ancient monster over in Johto, essentially impossible.
"Hssss—" Blue couldn't help a sharp intake of breath. Well, damn. No wonder — she'd always found it strange, honestly. This area, Team Rocket's largest ranch in all of Kanto, such an important site — the outer security had seemed formidable enough, sure, but nowhere near proportionate to something with the weight of World Tree Park behind it. Made sense now, though. The outer security was just for show. The real security was inside the ranch itself.
...
Ash's brain had thoroughly short-circuited.
"Umm—"
Silver spoke up for the first time, momentarily unsure how to address Erika.
"Yes? Sir?" Erika turned to him, puzzled.
"...Sister-in-law. I need to know where my brother is right now."
"?"
Erika stared at Silver, completely thrown — then her brow knit, expression turning distinctly displeased. Sister-in-law? Who exactly does he think he's calling that?
"Sir, even for someone like me, a joke like that would make me genuinely angry."
"No, no — this is a misunderstanding, Gym Leader Erika. Silver is Mammon's brother. His actual, blood brother." Blue jumped in quickly to explain.
Mammon's actual brother? Erika looked genuinely startled — that couldn't be right. She'd never once heard of Mammon having a brother.
"Silver was kidnapped as a young child. He only recently reconnected with Mammon and Chairman Giovanni — you probably wouldn't have heard about it yet." Blue understood now why Erika's reaction had been what it was.
Understanding dawned on Erika — though she still sent a message to Giovanni to confirm, just to be sure. Both being official League figures, Erika had Giovanni's contact information on hand. Giovanni's confirmation came back quickly enough.
"My apologies, I wasn't aware of this." Erika flushed slightly, embarrassed — after all, Silver had just addressed her as "sister-in-law" moments ago.
"It's fine, Sister-in-law. I just need to know where my brother is."
Silver repeated himself, unbothered.
"You don't have any way to contact Mr. Mammon yourself?" Erika looked genuinely puzzled.
"Ever since I found out he joined Team Rocket, he hasn't responded to my messages at all," Silver said quietly.
"I see."
Erika sighed inwardly — much the same situation as with Giovanni, then. Though it seemed Silver genuinely valued his family bond with Mammon a great deal.
"Mr. Mammon should be returning to Kanto sometime soon, though I honestly don't know exactly where he'll be." Erika answered — in truth, Mammon was actually returning to Kanto that very day. But she said this deliberately regardless; if Mammon was intentionally avoiding Silver, she certainly wasn't going to be the one to give away his whereabouts.
Silver fell silent.
Erika then escorted Ash's group out of World Tree Park. "I really can't believe Gym Leader Erika is this closely tied to Team Rocket," Misty said, turning back to see Erika standing before several heavily muscled men, apparently in the middle of scolding them. Erika, small in stature, still had those hulking men too intimidated to even lift their heads — clearly given quite the talking-to.
"Most importantly, the League's current stance toward Team Rocket really is oddly delicate right now," Brock mused, having followed this issue somewhat. "Different leadership now, after all — this new Team Rocket does seem to be genuinely turning over a new leaf."
Blue, a lollipop between her teeth, turned to Silver.
"So, Silver — what's the plan now?"
"I'm finding my brother. Whatever it takes, I need to ask him some things face to face." Silver's voice was heavy.
"Alright, alright, guess I'll help you out then." Blue threw up her hands, resigned.
Ash, meanwhile, was equally stuck — unable to enter the World Tree, how was he supposed to help Lucario uncover the truth of what had happened all those years ago? He'd been hoping to help Lucario resolve that old fixation, and maybe catch it in the process — he genuinely liked this dignified, noble Lucario.
"Well, guess this is where we part ways then. Ash, Misty, Brock — bye for now. We're headed to Viridian City."
Blue waved goodbye to the three of them.
"See you."
They watched Blue and Silver's figures disappear from view.
"Mammon's little brother — looks like a formidable rival, Ash," Brock noted. This Silver kid's strength was clearly considerable; he wondered whether the boy would end up entering the Indigo League tournament.
"Mm~ but I won't lose to him!" Ash was full of confidence in himself — he was determined to win this year's Indigo Conference. He'd take down Red himself if he had to, let alone someone like Silver. Made sense, really — sure, he couldn't beat Mammon yet, but that hardly meant he couldn't beat Mammon's little brother, did it?
"Oh? Sounds like you've got real confidence there, Ash."
A voice, faintly amused, cut in suddenly from behind the three of them.
"Of course I— wait, that voice — Mammon?!"
Ash answered reflexively before catching himself — that voice hadn't belonged to Misty or Brock. He spun around, and — sure enough!
"Yo~ been a while, hasn't it, Ash. Misty, Brock too — you all look like you're doing well."
Mammon's mouth curled into a grin, watching Ash with obvious amusement. Behind him stood Caitlin, Platinum, and Paul.
"Mammon! When did you get here?"
Ash tensed immediately, still nowhere near ready to let his guard down around Mammon — especially not after what happened last time. Sure, Erika had claimed it had all been a date between the two of them, but honestly, wasn't that even more infuriating? Mammon had completely played him for a fool that whole time! Damn it!
"Right around when you all came out, actually — saw you with Silver."
"So why didn't you show yourself? Your brother's been looking for you this whole time."
Ash couldn't help frowning at him.
"Not the right time yet," Mammon said with a light laugh. He wasn't ready to meet with Silver just yet — the timing was wrong — so he'd simply stayed out of sight when he spotted Ash's group.
"Speaking of which, Ash — you three were pretty rude today, you know. Barging into my ranch uninvited like that isn't great, is it?"
The corner of Mammon's mouth curled upward — Erika had already texted him about the whole thing, of course.
"I wasn't trying to! There genuinely wasn't anyone around when we walked in."
Ash's face flushed with embarrassment at that — for someone as straightforwardly honest as him, this was genuinely mortifying, especially given it was Mammon's own ranch.
"And besides — if it weren't to help Lucario uncover the truth about what happened back then, I wouldn't have come here at all."
"Oh?" Mammon raised an eyebrow. "The Lucario from Cameran Palace?"
"How do you know about that?" Ash looked at him, baffled.
"Happened to come across some records about it. This place isn't that far from Rota Street, after all."
The plot's completely diverged from canon here — by rights, the Aura hero movie's storyline should have taken place after Ash's return from his Hoenn journey. Not that it mattered much either way.
"Ash, I could help you out here. You're pretty stuck, aren't you?"
Mammon mused for a moment, then flashed a grin at him. A rather good idea had just occurred to him.
"What are you scheming this time?"
Ash, having learned his lesson by now, eyed Mammon warily.
"Tch~ come on now, do I really look like a bad guy to you?" Mammon scoffed.
You're not a bad guy? Then what, exactly, are you — a good guy? Misty couldn't help the thought, though she kept it strictly to herself.
Ash said nothing, and that thunderous silence spoke plainly enough for itself as to what he actually thought.
"Relax, I never lie to people. But if you want my help, you'll need to pass a little test first."
"What kind of test?"
Perhaps Erika's earlier words had shifted something subtly in Ash's mindset — his resistance to Mammon wasn't quite as fierce as it once was.
"These two are Dawn and Paul." Mammon grinned, introducing the girl and boy standing behind him. Platinum looked at Ash's group with curiosity, nodding at them in a friendly greeting; Paul remained expressionless.
"They're both from Sinnoh, newly joined Team Rocket — new trainers, same age as you."
"Just as talented as you, too, Ash."
Mammon smiled, holding up a single finger. "Pick one of them as your opponent for a friendly match. Win, and I'll help you with your favor."
"But I'm a fair man, so if you lose, you owe me a favor in return. Deal?"
Right — whether it was Platinum or Paul, watching either of them battle Ash sounded genuinely entertaining. And whatever the outcome, Mammon stood to lose nothing either way.
Hearing this, Ash studied Platinum and Paul, falling into deep thought.
Should he agree? And if so — which one should he pick as his opponent?
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