Chapter 65: Mammon, I'm Going to Challenge the Kanto Elite Four
In hindsight, Mammon was glad he hadn't made a move on Tapu Koko and Tapu Bulu.
He'd considered it, before leaving Alola — sweep all four guardians while he had the chance. But thinking it through now, the math didn't work.
Catching Koko and Bulu would just mean adding two more legendaries to the organization's roster for someone else to train, since Mammon had no intention of developing them personally. That meant housing them, feeding them, and spending constant energy making sure they didn't bolt. Not worth it.
On the other hand, leaving them free came with genuine upsides.
First: public relations. Having two guardians still actively managing their islands would take the edge off Kukui's group. People were pragmatic about these things. Four Tapus seized by Team Rocket would have pushed Kukui and the Kahunas to a breaking point. Two Tapus? That sat below the threshold where things exploded. Manageable resentment.
Second: Ultra Beasts. They appeared in Alola at random, and with Koko and Bulu still operating freely, the damage they caused would stay contained. The two guardians would handle outbreaks on their own.
And Ultra Beasts wrecking Alola was bad for Alola's economy, which was bad for tourism, which was — if you rounded generously — bad for Team Rocket's interests in the region.
Two free security guards, basically.
"Good thing I held back," Mammon said under his breath, giving himself a small internal pat on the shoulder. That was the smart call.
The three of them walked down from the Altar of the Moone. The night had gotten late, so they made their way to a small town on Poni Island and found an inn, booking three rooms.
"Hey, you."
Mammon had just finished his shower when his phone buzzed. Giovanni.
"The three legendary birds have been acquired," Giovanni said, with the calm of someone reporting three Pidgey had been caught. "Do you want one for development?"
"Huh. Sabrina's team moves fast."
Mammon raised an eyebrow. The three legendary birds of Kanto — Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres. He'd given that assignment to the Three Admins.
"My roster's full. Let me think…" He paused. "Hold onto Zapdos and Articuno. Moltres can go to the breeding ranch."
"You're planning to send one to Mitsuki?"
Giovanni had seen through it in an instant. Mammon had kept two birds for no obvious reason — and Mitsuki was the obvious reason. The boy had never been stingy when it came to her.
"Ha — you know me too well, old man."
"Mammon." Giovanni's voice shifted, just slightly. "Are you certain Mitsuki can accept who you are?"
A quiet exhale.
Giovanni had spent several months with Mitsuki the previous year, and that time had left him with a clear impression: the girl was extraordinary. No exaggeration — her talent as a Trainer rivaled Mammon's in his honest assessment, and in certain respects she might even surpass him. Two monsters like that appearing in the same generation gave Giovanni a vague sense that the normal rules had been quietly discarded.
The good news was that one was his son, and the other was effectively his future daughter-in-law.
He genuinely liked Mitsuki. But the question remained: would she accept Mammon's identity? If she couldn't — Mammon had spent years cultivating someone who would become an extraordinary opponent.
"You don't get it," Mammon said, shaking his head. "What we have — it goes deeper than that."
He had complete confidence in her. Even if his identity came out, Mitsuki's response would be characteristically Mitsuki: the League is hunting Mammon? Then the League is the villain.
"Fair enough." Giovanni's tone warmed, just faintly, into something approaching a laugh.
"One more thing — I caught a significant number of Ultra Beasts while I was in Ultra Space. Want a couple developed? Their base stats are solid across the board."
"Do you have any Ground-types?"
"No."
"Let me know when something suitable turns up." Giovanni took a quiet sip of tea. His main roster had been complete for years, and his preference had always run toward Ground-types. Other typings, even legendaries, didn't particularly interest him.
A bird-tier legendary like Moltres, for instance — he had no doubt his personally trained team already matched or exceeded it.
(The synthetic Pokémon the organization's genetics lab had produced — the one originally built for him — had ended up with Mammon instead, since Mammon had taken a strong liking to it. Giovanni had let it go without complaint.)
"Understood." Mammon didn't push it. He had his own ideas about what to eventually source for Giovanni, and there was no rush.
"Alola is wrapping up on my end. I'll head back to Kanto in a bit."
"Good." Something shifted in Giovanni's expression — the faint curve of a smile that sat just slightly to the darker side of warmth. "Mammon. I've registered for the Kanto Elite Four Challenge. End of year."
Mammon paused.
"...You're serious?"
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