Chapter 6: Gengar, Cut That Crap Out!!
"Huh?"
By the time Lillie snapped out of it, all she could see was Mammon's retreating back.
She hadn't even gotten to thank him properly. Lillie sighed inwardly, then turned and waved to Mitsuki.
"I'm over here, Mitsuki!"
"Phew~ Why'd you run off so far?"
Mitsuki jogged over, patting her chest with worry.
She knew full well — Lillie wasn't a Trainer.
"Sorry about that. Nebby just suddenly popped out on its own."
"Hmph~ I knew it. Had to be this little troublemaker."
Mitsuki crouched down and poked Nebby's cheek. The little rascal was just too hyper — always sneaking out of the bag to go exploring.
Nebby puffed up its cheeks indignantly and glared at Mitsuki.
"Oh, you're glaring at me now? Do you want candy or don't you?"
Mitsuki laughed, hands on her hips, shamelessly threatening the tiny Cosmog.
"Pew~ Pew!"
"That's what I thought. Stick with me and there'll be plenty of treats to go around!"
Mitsuki nodded with satisfaction at Nebby's response — even though she had absolutely zero idea what Nebby was actually saying.
Lillie smiled politely. She was fairly certain Nebby had just been blowing a raspberry, not agreeing. But that seemed like the kind of thing best left unsaid.
"Come to think of it — you found Nebby on your own this time, Lillie?" Mitsuki asked curiously.
She knew from experience that when Nebby bolted, it was a real headache for Lillie to track it down alone.
"Not exactly. Nebby ran into a really kind boy who was looking after it."
"Ohhh?"
Mitsuki's voice shot up several octaves.
"It's not what you're thinking!"
Lillie shot her a look, half-exasperated, half-amused. They'd only known each other a few days, but they'd already fallen into the easy rhythm of close friends.
She wasn't sure why, but being around Mitsuki just felt right. This was exactly the kind of friendship Lillie had always wanted.
Meanwhile, Mammon was heading toward the villa he'd purchased.
He'd be staying in Alola for the foreseeable future, so he needed a proper base of operations.
It wasn't far from the beach district — about a ten-minute walk to the residential area.
But on the way…
"Hm?"
Mammon's gaze drifted toward a nearby training field, where a girl appeared to be running intensive drills.
That alone wasn't unusual. What was unusual was that Mammon recognized her.
He dug through his memories — it had been sixteen years since he'd been reborn into this world, after all, so things were a little fuzzy around the edges.
"What's she doing here?" But once it clicked, he raised an eyebrow with interest.
She wore a fitted white-and-pink dress that traced an elegant figure, cinched at her slender waist with a white sash. Her features were exquisitely refined, her porcelain skin practically luminous in the sunlight, and gorgeous golden hair cascaded down her back.
A strikingly beautiful girl — and none other than Caitlin.
In Pokémon Platinum, she was the owner of the Battle Castle. In Black and White, she served as Unova's Psychic-type Elite Four member.
An elegant young woman with just a touch of aristocratic haughtiness — a so-called "Sleeping Beauty" born into one of Sinnoh's most prestigious families. Her innate psychic powers were so immense — and so poorly controlled — that losing a battle could trigger emotional spikes that sent her abilities haywire, causing massive destruction.
That very issue had gotten her banned from official competition by the League. Which was why in Platinum, even though Caitlin owned the Battle Castle, it was her butler Darach who actually battled the player.
Once she'd finally learned to manage her emotions, she'd traveled alone to Unova to hone her skills — and in remarkably short order, had risen to become one of Unova's Elite Four.
Worth noting: Caitlin was extremely wealthy. In the games, she'd casually mentioned owning villas all over the world — and even letting her good friend Cynthia use them.
"Interesting."
Mammon thought it over, then strolled toward Caitlin with a spark of curiosity.
Caitlin was currently putting a Kirlia through intensive drills, and the move they were working on was Psychic.
Psychic was one of the strongest and most practical special attacks in the Psychic-type arsenal. The fact that this Kirlia had already learned it meant either it was at a fairly high level, or a TM had been used.
TMs were incredibly convenient items — just use one on a Pokémon, and it instantly learned the corresponding move. Simple and efficient.
In practice, though, it was something of a shortcut. Take Kirlia as an example: even without a TM, even if it wasn't high enough level, as long as another Pokémon that knew Psychic could mentor it, a reasonably talented Kirlia could eventually learn the move on its own through guided practice.
Of course, that approach took time.
If you had the resources, buying a TM was undeniably the faster, easier option. But TMs weren't exactly cheap — especially for powerful, practical moves like Psychic.
Caitlin noticed Mammon approaching but didn't pay him much attention, continuing her training with Kirlia.
Her method was straightforward: have Kirlia attack her Metagross. When you didn't have a sparring partner, using your own Pokémon as both attacker and target was the go-to approach for most Trainers.
"The results are… underwhelming." Before long, Caitlin's elegant brows knitted together in frustration. Irritation was creeping in, and a faint, flickering blue glow began to pulse behind her eyes.
But she caught herself almost immediately, took several deep breaths, and forced the agitation back down.
"If the solo training isn't cutting it, how about I give you someone to spar against?"
Caitlin turned toward the voice — toward Mammon.
"Training on your own is never going to match real combat practice. Don't you think?"
Mammon's lips curved into a grin as he drew a Poké Ball and gave it a casual toss in her direction.
"You make a fair point."
Caitlin understood the logic perfectly well. Her gaze swept over this unfamiliar boy, sizing him up.
"But if it turns out to be a boring fight, I will be upset."
"Don't worry, beautiful — I'll make sure you enjoy every second of it."
Mammon's smile turned slow. Dangerous. Magnetic.
And right on cue, tendrils of dark purple mist began rising from behind him, accompanied by an eerie, rasping "Keh heh heh heh…"
"???" Caitlin tilted her head, staring blankly at Mammon — who had suddenly transformed into something out of a villain's entrance scene, radiating pure dark-lord energy.
What… what just happened?
"GENGAR! CUT THAT CRAP OUT!!"
Mammon's eye twitched violently as he looked at the purple-black fog swirling around him. He couldn't keep a straight face anymore.
Hearing its Trainer's outburst, the chubby gray-purple ghost poked its upper half out of Mammon's shadow, staring up at him in genuine confusion.
"Keh? (You don't like the special effects?)"
Mammon's face spasmed again.
He had absolutely no idea where this idiot had picked up this nonsense. Gengar had definitely been binge-watching shows behind his back.
And not just any shows — the cheesy, old-school kind. Hero defeats the Demon King. That kind of garbage.