Chapter 306: Team Rocket Ash — Here We Go!
The battle over, Mammon strolled onto the field.
"Nicely done. Your growth's been remarkable, Paul. I really wasn't wrong about you." Mammon offered the praise directly.
Paul gave Mammon a slight bow, saying nothing further — he was genuinely grateful for the chance Mammon had given him. A wider world, a genuinely better environment to grow in.
"Ash. You lost." Mammon's gaze turned to Ash, mouth curling into a teasing grin.
"..." Ash held his freshly-recovered Pikachu in his arms, his expression far from pleasant — though he didn't try to argue the point. As frustrated as he was right now, a loss was a loss; he'd genuinely lost to Paul. Ash wasn't exactly a sore loser by nature — the real sting was losing specifically to this insufferable, sharp-tongued guy.
"So, per our agreement, you owe me a favor now, right?"
"...Right. But I won't do anything bad." Ash nodded, though the words came reluctantly, and he immediately added the caveat.
"Ash, that's a bit unfair of you, you know. Could you maybe not judge this new Team Rocket through such outdated eyes?" Mammon raised an eyebrow.
Ash's trio said nothing.
"Team Rocket's original evil boss is already dead by my own hand. I'm the current boss now — and I'm not the same low-rent villain type." Mammon said, casual as ever.
So you're not even denying you're a villain at all, huh? Misty couldn't help thinking it privately. And honestly, killing Team Rocket's original leader only made Mammon seem more dangerous by any reasonable measure, didn't it? Team Rocket had been entrenched in Kanto for how many years now? Vicious, thoroughly steeped in wrongdoing — the Kanto League had spent years desperately trying to root them out with basically no real progress to show for it, and that shadowy original leader had been essentially the very "source of darkness" behind it all. And Mammon had just... killed him.
"Are you saying Team Rocket isn't an evil organization anymore, then?" Brock couldn't hold back the question.
"Would you believe me if I said no, either way?" Mammon shot back.
That left Brock silent.
"Preconceptions are a mountain, and no amount of me insisting otherwise is really going to move it much." Mammon said, sounding almost wistful.
Ash scratched his head. How to put it — he actually felt a little sympathetic toward Mammon right now? Maybe it really was as Mammon said — the old impressions ran too deep, and an organization still carrying the "Team Rocket" name would always, instinctively, get read as the same evil outfit it used to be.
Brock and Misty, though, weren't quite so easily "charmed" by his words. Sure, he made it sound like he'd been genuinely wronged, but was that fair? Nobody had held a knife to Mammon's throat and forced him to seize the Goldenrod Radio Tower and broadcast his boss declaration to the world, that arrogant grin and all. A man like that... the disconnect between that image and the one he was presenting right now was just too vast. Which one was the real Mammon? Neither Brock nor Misty could say for sure — but the safe default was: question everything first.
"So what exactly is it you want Ash to do?" Brock changed the subject. He and Ash were close traveling companions, and in some sense, Brock had always thought of Ash and Misty a bit like a younger brother and sister. He wasn't about to just stand by while Mammon tricked Ash into something.
"Team Rocket's actual goal is simple enough — wiping out every other dark organization and criminal force out there, poachers included. This world has no need for that kind of garbage." Mammon didn't answer directly, offering instead a slice of Team Rocket's stated philosophy.
"That's a good thing, though." Ash found real sense in that. Evil organizations and poacher networks — both were cancers on the world, plain and simple.
"Right, you feel the same way, don't you? Ash, I really wasn't wrong about you — you've got a genuine sense of justice in you." Mammon smiled, warm and sunny.
Ash rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed. Caitlin and the others stood behind Mammon; even Platinum was giving Ash a distinctly odd look at this point.
"Hold it!" Brock jumped in, cutting him off, clapping Ash's back to snap him back to attention.
"Mammon, what exactly are you getting at?" Brock repeated the question.
"To wipe out these dark organizations, we need more like-minded allies at our side — that's the only way to give this world back a clear, honest sky!"
"To keep this world's heavens blue and clear, always!"
"To let everyone living in this world keep smiling with genuine happiness!"
Mammon's words came out with real passion, genuinely rousing. At the very least, Ash was thoroughly stirred by it, nodding along enthusiastically. Right — this is exactly what I want! If this world really could be free of evil organizations, that would be incredible.
"Ash! For the sake of this world — would you join us?"
"I'll—mmph!"
Ash, thoroughly swept up, was ready to agree without a second thought.
"Hold it!"
Misty grabbed Ash by the neck, clamping a hand over his mouth. Pikachu, exhausted and cradled in Ash's arms, took the collateral hit and tumbled to the ground with a pitiful yelp.
"Ow, what was that for, Misty!"
Ash pulled free at once, scooping Pikachu back up with real concern.
"'I'll' my foot! You can't just go around saying that, you idiot!"
Misty smacked him on the head, thoroughly exasperated with him.
"Right, Ash, don't just take his word at face value," Brock added firmly.
Mammon raised an eyebrow, letting out a soft click of the tongue. If it weren't for Misty and Brock, honestly, he was confident he could've talked Ash — pure and hot-blooded as he was — into signing up on the spot. Rousing slogans were the easy part. The problem was, Brock and Misty were still level-headed. Pity, really.
"Huh? But..." Ash genuinely felt everything Mammon had said sounded sincere and reasonable.
"'But' nothing — whatever he says, you just believe? Are you an idiot?" Misty had had enough.
"And haven't you noticed? Everything he's talking about is other evil organizations. What about his own Team Rocket?"
Misty had caught it — her eyes unusually sharp right now.
Ash blinked, caught off guard.
"If I'm not mistaken, wiping out and absorbing every other evil organization to grow your own Team Rocket, until it's the sole dominant power across every region — that's your actual goal, isn't it?" Brock added firmly.
The three of them fixed their eyes on Mammon. He narrowed his eyes slightly, and then a wide grin spread across his face.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
He raised his hands, applauding Brock and Misty directly.
"Well said. No surprise you two used to be Gym-trained trainers — good instincts, both of you." Mammon praised them with genuine appreciation, showing not a hint of embarrassment at being called out. Had to give it to them — Brock and Misty might not have the flashiest raw talent, but they were genuinely sharp. And calling their talent "not especially outstanding" was really only true relative to certain company; by ordinary standards, both of them were plenty impressive in their own right.
"You're not even denying it?" Misty blinked, caught off guard.
"Why would I deny it?" Mammon tilted his head, feigning surprise.
"Does anything you two just said actually contradict what I told him?"
True enough — Misty and Brock had correctly guessed his real motive, but so what?
"We eliminate those evil organizations, then take over managing their territory, so this world doesn't keep breeding more darkness."
Mammon looked at the three of them.
"Whether you judge by conduct or by outcome, both readings land on 'justice' — our own Team Rocket brand of justice. Is there actually a problem with that?"
Justice of conduct — the rightness of the action itself, and eliminating evil organizations was, on its own terms, an unimpeachably just act. True, the members of those defeated organizations never got handed over to the League — but Mammon absorbed every one of them into Team Rocket for "rehabilitation" instead. The genuinely irredeemable ones got sent off to mine, sure, a little extreme, but arguably still society getting a criminal element dealt with, wasn't it?
Justice of outcome — regardless of method, so long as the intended result was achieved. And by Mammon's own accounting, both the conduct and the outcome checked out as righteous, full stop.
"This..."
Misty's mind blanked out. Was that right? Felt wrong somehow. Did it, though? Actually felt kind of right too. So which was it — right, or wrong?
"Ash. I'm genuinely, sincerely inviting you to join us — to help punish these dark organizations alongside us. Will you?"
Mammon extended the invitation to Ash directly, earnestly.
"Huh? I..." Ash wasn't quite as swept up this time. Sure, what Mammon said seemed to check out logically — but joining Team Rocket? Something about that still felt off, somehow. Refusing, though — that felt like a shame too. Fighting evil organizations, after all, was genuinely something Ash looked forward to.
"Ash, wasn't your goal to become a Pokémon Master?" Brock said quietly after a moment, reminding him.
He still hadn't quite worked out how to properly counter Mammon's argument, but Brock's instinct that Team Rocket wasn't to be trusted held firm regardless. Question first, always.
"Oh, right! My dream is to become a Pokémon Master. Mammon, I can't join your organization." Ash suddenly remembered — becoming a Pokémon Master had been his lifelong dream since childhood. That was never up for negotiation.
"That wouldn't actually get in the way, though. The organization's got plenty of talented trainers your own age — trading notes, growing together, that could genuinely benefit your own development." Mammon let out a light laugh, then thought for a moment.
"Anyway, I really do think highly of you, Ash. But I imagine you and your friends still have plenty of reservations."
"In that case — how about a temporary contract instead? Become provisional members of our organization. No real restrictions on you, and whenever the organization has an operation against an evil group or poacher network, you'd be welcome to join in. How does that sound?"
Mammon put the question to the three of them.
"Provisional members?"
Brock and Misty exchanged a glance, both catching the same flicker of surprise in the other's eyes.
"That's right. What you're worried about, fundamentally, is whether I'm lying to you, isn't it? Being provisional members lets you see for yourselves what the organization actually does day-to-day, and gives you the chance to join in on some operations, get a feel for it firsthand." Mammon said with a smile.
"That should settle things, shouldn't it? No real obligation on your end, nothing mandatory involved."
"Well... maybe we could try it?" Misty hesitated, then said tentatively to Ash.
"Alright!" Ash thought it over and nodded, decided.
And then...
"Whoa!! All these Pokémon are redeemable?!"
"This forum's this active? So many people on here — some from Unova and Hoenn too!"
"So many items..."
"Ooh, I want to take this mission — a rogue Nidoking causing trouble on Moonview Mountain, injured three bystanders. Investigate the cause and capture it if necessary."
Ash's trio pored over the organization's app on their phones, one exclamation after another. Clearly, they were getting quite the education. And honestly, the whole vibe was nothing like they'd pictured — the forum was packed with posts trading Pokémon-breeding tips, grumbling about missions, sharing everyday life updates. Plenty of short videos of people bonding with their Pokémon, too. (Credit to the Blueberry Academy students for that.)
This was really an evil organization's app?
Right — Mammon smoothly got Brock and Misty to sign contracts too, while he was at it. Might as well — they showed real potential.
Heh heh~ hahaha~
Watching Ash's genuinely giddy, excited expression, Mammon simply couldn't stop grinning.
Finally talked him into it! Team Rocket Ash — here we go!!
Mammon honestly couldn't wait to picture the look on Red's face, the moment he found out his own little brother had joined Team Rocket.
Just thinking about it was thrilling.
(End of Chapter)
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