Chapter 391: Dad, You Underestimate the Power of Team Rocket
"I'll leave that to you. If worst comes to worst, let Silver take it over."
Giovanni was noncommittal. He didn't ask for much anyway.
As long as they were strong enough and one of their own, that was fine.
He and Mammon were on the same page: the Viridian Gym was their "family business," and he didn't trust it to an outsider.
"Silver's not a good fit. His personality..."
Mammon raised an eyebrow. Silver, a Gym Leader?
Thinking of Silver's rather antisocial nature, Mammon shook his head. Anyone who came to challenge the Viridian Gym would probably get beaten so badly by Silver that they'd have a breakdown.
Silver had also always been irritated by weaklings, and he had a hidden sharp tongue.
"Fair enough. There's no rush on that. What's your plan?"
Giovanni thought about it and agreed, then smiled and moved on, asking Mammon.
He meant, of course, the decisive battle with the League.
"If it's going to be a decisive battle with the League, it needs the perfect battlefield."
Mammon leaned back comfortably on the sofa and flashed a big, sunny smile.
A decisive battle with the League?
Serena and Viola, who didn't know what was going on, were taken aback. Team Rocket still has a fight to settle with the League??
"Oh?"
Giovanni paused and glanced at Mammon.
"Dad, did you know? A while back, a collector came to Apollo on his own and wanted Team Rocket to take on a commission for him."
Mammon tapped his fingers lightly on his thigh, his smile deep.
"He wants to capture Lugia for his collection, and he's willing to pay very handsomely."
Hearing that, Serena's eyes went wide. Huh?
Lugia is one of Kanto's mythical Legendary Pokémon. Is that collector out of his mind?
"Human ambition and desire always exceed what you'd imagine." Giovanni gave a light laugh, not surprised in the slightest.
"Right? Even I was kind of surprised. I had Apollo look into his background. Guess whose guy he is?"
"There aren't many people in Kanto who could afford to pay for a Lugia capture. Silph Co.?"
Giovanni thought for a moment. A collector, especially one who dared to set his sights on a Legendary like Lugia,
meant ordinary "collectibles" no longer satisfied him. And he was promising Team Rocket an extremely generous payment.
The only conglomerate with that kind of wealth was probably Silph Co.
"Exactly. After digging deeper, Apollo found out that guy is the son of Silph Co.'s president. Tch~"
Mammon clicked his tongue. A rich kid of the highest order. No wonder he was bored enough to go after Lugia.
But that worked out perfectly. It gave them a great excuse, didn't it?
"You want to make a move on Silph?" Giovanni understood, his eyes glinting slightly.
And Mammon wanted the battlefield to be Saffron City!
"Ah~ Well, if we're going to fight, we have to give the League a reason, right?" Mammon grinned.
"Team Rocket, flouting the law, kidnaps the Silph president's son, storms Silph Co., and threatens the president for a massive ransom."
"For the League, isn't that the perfect justification to come after us?"
Mammon said it with a grin. And while we're at it, we can actually shake down the Silph president for a nice sum.
Call it a fee for disciplining his son for him.
Otherwise, if that kid really went to the Orange Islands to mess with the three Legendary birds and Lugia, it would set off no small incident.
By taking down this collector now, they'd quietly be saving the world once again, wouldn't they?
"Otherwise, what, the two sides just agree on a location and start brawling? That'd be way too boring."
This was a battle that would decide the shape of the world from here on, and Mammon felt it ought to have some style.
He could also use this incident to show the difference between Team Rocket and the League.
If the League handled it, the most they'd do was give a lecture and a warning. Would that actually change anything for the collector?
The League's way of handling things was far too "gentle." Team Rocket was different!
Got so much money you're bored enough to collect Lugia? Then once you're broke, you won't be able to do anything that dangerous, will you?
Solve the problem at the root, and fund Team Rocket at the same time. Two birds with one stone. Perfect.
"You..." Giovanni couldn't help laughing.
"Besides, Saffron City is the biggest, most developed city in Kanto. Having it witness Team Rocket's victory is just perfect."
Mammon made no effort to hide his confidence.
"Is that so? Mammon, the League is taking this very seriously too. Are you sure you can win?"
Giovanni warned him.
"Dad, you underestimate the power of Team Rocket."
Mammon scoffed.
No matter how many Champion-level fighters the League rallied, it meant nothing!
Because Team Rocket only wins! It never loses!
They chatted with Giovanni a while longer, and then Mammon took the chance to ask Giovanni to do an interview with Viola.
Worth noting: after Mammon acquired the Lumiose Press, it had been renamed Alpaca Press.
Giovanni had no objection. He'd consider it a way to boost traffic and buzz for his son's business.
Having just become Champion, Giovanni was the hottest topic around right now.
This interview could bring Alpaca Press a huge amount of traffic and attention. And Giovanni was Mammon's father, another major talking point.
So any way you looked at it, once this interview went out, it was going to blow up!
The next day came in the blink of an eye.
Viola went off to prepare for the interview. Time was fairly tight, since the newly minted Kanto Champion had a lot on his plate.
Mammon, meanwhile, planned to take Caitlin, Platinum, and Serena around Kanto.
"Mammon!!"
"Pika~ chu!"
They'd barely set foot outside the city when Mammon heard an "affectionate" call, along with the cry of a certain electric mouse.
Mammon raised an eyebrow and turned around. Sure enough, it was Ash's trio.
"Yo~ Ash, Misty, and Brock. What a coincidence."
Mammon greeted the three.
"Ha~ It really is you, Mammon! I knew it looked like you from behind."
Ash was delighted.
"I watched that interview of yours! And you guys helped the Kalos League take down Team Flare. That's so awesome!"
Ash said excitedly. He'd seen Mammon's exclusive interview video afterward.
Misty had come across the discussion about Mammon while scrolling out of boredom and went looking for it specifically. They'd never imagined Mammon had a past like that.
"That was mostly thanks to Dawn and the others. I barely did anything. Come to think of it, Ash, why didn't you guys come on that Lumiose mission?"
Mammon asked curiously.
For big cross-region missions like that, the organization reimbursed flights, room, and board, so nobody would miss one for lack of money.
"It's all because of Ash. He'd just taken a mission way out in the middle of the mountains. It was so remote there was basically no signal. It took us two days to track down that wild Totem Pokémon, and by the time we came out, the sign-up period was over."
Misty rolled her eyes and said it in a sulky voice.
"So we had to give it up." Brock looked helpless too. Kalos! An all-expenses-paid trip!!
"It wasn't my fault. It's just bad timing." Ash looked wronged.
"Don't worry. There'll be more big missions down the line."
Mammon smiled and reassured the three of them.
"Speaking of which, Ash, gotten anything good lately?"
"I have! Mammon, look, I redeemed a new Pokémon!"
Ash's mood shot up instantly. He took out a Poké Ball and opened it. In a flash of white light, a little green guy landed in front of Ash.
It had a twig in its mouth and was looking around.
It was Hoenn's Grass-type starter, Treecko.
"Treecko? Nice. If you can raise its final evolution, Sceptile, it'll be very strong."
Mammon chuckled and praised it.
Is it really fate after all?
Mammon looked at Treecko, then at the beaming Ash. It seemed Ash had really taken his advice from last time to heart.
Otherwise he wouldn't have picked a Grass-type Treecko specifically to shore up his team. Bulbasaur refused to evolve, so Ash really did need a new Grass-type main battler.
And of all Ash's Grass-type main battlers over the years, Sceptile had been the best. At Sinnoh's Lily of the Valley Conference, it had even helped Ash beat Tobias's Darkrai.
"Heh heh~ I don't know why, but Treecko caught my eye right away. I really like it." Ash was clearly happy too.
"Keep it up~" Mammon encouraged Ash. He had high hopes for Ash too.
"Yeah! Dawn, since we ran into each other, wanna battle again? I've gotten stronger!"
Then Ash clenched his fist and looked at Platinum, burning with fighting spirit.
He actually wanted to challenge Paul more, but unfortunately Paul wasn't there.
Platinum blinked.
"Sure, but..."
Platinum looked at Mammon. She didn't mind, but she was worried it would hold up their plans.
"It's fine. We're not in a rush." Mammon chuckled.
"Ash, this is Serena from Kalos. She's a trainer your age, and she's very strong too. You two should spar sometime."
Mammon introduced Serena to Ash.
"Serena, this is Ash, and these two are his traveling companions, Misty and Brock. Ash is a really great trainer."
Ash's eyes lit up at that.
"Hi! I'm Ash from Pallet Town."
"Hi, I'm Serena."
Serena looked at Ash curiously. She didn't need to be told: another "monster" her age.
Then Ash and Platinum had their sparring match, but the result was the same as before.
Still, compared to last time, Ash really had improved a lot.
"Aw, man~ Dawn's still super strong. Lost again."
Ash had lost, but he wasn't too disappointed. If anything, he seemed oddly satisfied.
Going up against an opponent that strong got him so hyped!
In fact, since joining Team Rocket, Ash could regularly spar with his fellow senior executives.
Apollo and the other senior executives were strong, but Ash felt they didn't put enough pressure on him.
The only one who'd really made Ash feel the pressure was Sham of the Three Beasts.
Yep. He couldn't beat Sham.
But after they'd scheduled one battle, Sham ran off to Johto. According to her, she'd gone to pick a fight with Chakra.
Ash didn't really get it. All he could say was that the relationships among Team Rocket's local senior executives were a bit of a mystery.
Ash was disappointed, though, because with Sham gone to Johto, none of the local Kanto senior executives could beat him anymore.
"Actually, Ash, if you really want a challenging opponent, you could go battle N."
Mammon told Ash. He figured N and Ash would have a lot in common.
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