Chapter 71: Who… Am I?
"Mammon — aren't you going to introduce me?"
Giovanni set down his teacup with an easy smile, his voice carrying that characteristic low warmth.
He was naturally curious about the two people Mammon had brought back with him.
Caitlin and Gladion both felt it — an involuntary stiffness as Giovanni's gaze moved to them.
This man was the Boss of Team Rocket.
The shadow behind Kanto's underworld. The person who had built Team Rocket into what it was right under the Kanto League's nose.
From the League's perspective, he was extraordinarily dangerous. From any neutral vantage point — you simply had to acknowledge it. This was someone formidable.
Mammon glanced at the two of them.
"My name is Caitlin." She rose smoothly and offered Giovanni an impeccably composed aristocratic bow, her voice unhurried. "Boss."
"Gladion." He stood and bowed as well, brief and clean.
"Heh. Very glad to have you both." Giovanni's laugh was quiet, his manner relaxed.
If Mammon had brought them all the way back to Kanto, that said something about their potential. Giovanni knew his son well enough — the boy's standards were anything but lenient.
"Alola's settled, then?"
Giovanni picked up his tea again. He'd been genuinely surprised when Mammon said he was coming back — it had barely been two months since he'd left for Alola.
"Nothing left to worry about. I've got the remaining operations covered. Figured I'd come check on you." Mammon nodded.
"I'd expect nothing less." The curve of Giovanni's smile deepened, and something unmistakably like pride moved through his voice.
"Though your timing isn't ideal. The League has been pushing hard against us lately."
"Lance and Lorelei have been hitting our members and bases across the region — if you're going out, be careful. The League's upper echelon knows your face."
Kanto Champion Lance, and Elite Four member Lorelei?
Caitlin turned the names over in her mind.
The Kanto Elite Four had always run one position short of full: Lorelei for Ice, Bruno for Fighting, Agatha for Ghost, and Lance as both the Four's de facto leader and the region's Champion.
She'd always been curious about them. The Kanto League was the headquarters of the global Pokémon League system — and the rumor had always been that the Kanto Elite Four were the strongest in the world. Lance, in particular, was spoken of as the greatest Champion alive.
The Undefeated Dragon Master. That was how Kanto people thought of him.
"This is about the St. Anne incident?" Mammon raised an eyebrow.
"Correct. Archer's operation failed — but seizing the ship and holding an entire passenger manifest hostage made a great deal of noise."
Sabrina's voice was flat and even. The St. Anne was a globally famous luxury liner. It had been docked at Vermilion City's port when Team Rocket took it over, and it had drawn exactly the kind of attention they didn't need.
From the Kanto League's view, this was a direct slap in the face. If Team Rocket could seize the St. Anne today, would Silph Co. be next?
"What was Archer thinking?" Mammon shook his head. "He's not usually impulsive."
As head of the Four Generals, Archer's capabilities were beyond question. His raw strength was Elite-Four-tier, but his real value had always been his head — calm, precise, strategic.
"According to his report, intelligence indicated a Trainer carrying the Mythical Pokémon Darkrai was aboard. He decided to move on the opportunity." Sabrina's delivery didn't change.
"A Darkrai Trainer?"
Mammon turned that over. In the anime, a Darkrai had appeared at the Lily of the Valley Conference — that was Tobias. But this probably wasn't Tobias.
More likely it was Ritchie — Pokémon Adventures manga continuity, one of the Three Beast Rockets, though Ritchie's true allegiance was to Team Galactic. She carried an exceptionally powerful Darkrai that she couldn't fully control.
If it wasn't her, Tobias was the next most plausible candidate.
"Either way, the operation failed. Never found the Trainer — and the whole plan fell apart when two kids tore through everyone on board."
"I see." Mammon rested his chin on his hand.
"How long are you planning to stay in Kanto?"
Giovanni steered past the topic. From his perspective, Archer's failure was a minor setback. The League cracking down harder was irritating but manageable — some personnel losses, some bases compromised. As long as the senior executives were intact, the rest was acceptable friction.
"About two weeks. Waiting on Mewtwo."
Mewtwo?
Caitlin and Gladion, who had been listening quietly, both looked up at the name with undisguised curiosity.
"Then you can leave tomorrow," Giovanni said, his smile warming. "Dr. Fuji's latest readings show signs of awakening across multiple indicators. It should be any day now."
He'd been planning to call Mammon back for exactly this.
"Even better." Mammon grinned. He had been waiting for this for a long time.
"Which region are you thinking for next?"
"I have ideas. Nothing confirmed yet." Mammon considered for a moment.
"Fair enough. You know your own direction." Giovanni didn't press. He trusted the boy's judgment. "Let's go eat."
Giovanni and Sabrina put on their disguises, and the group made their way to a nearby hotel together.
Mammon couldn't exactly visit the Viridian Gym now that he and Giovanni had publicly severed ties — and Giovanni only left the base in disguise when meeting Mammon in person these days. It was a reasonable precaution.
Besides, Giovanni had private properties across Kanto. There was a villa in Saffron City.
Two days passed.
Out on the open ocean — in a stretch of sea where no one traveled — a small, isolated island was shaken by a sound like the world cracking open.
A black shockwave detonated outward from the island's center. Where it passed, there was nothing left. Rock, timber, concrete — all of it reduced to powder and silence.
The research facility that had stood there for years collapsed entirely. Smoke and dust swallowed the sky.
And then, in the grey murk of the settling debris, two points of deep violet light flickered on.
A dark silhouette emerged slowly from the smoke.
Rubble beneath its feet. Broken things in every direction.
The violet eyes dimmed and brightened, dimmed and brightened — deep, hollow, searching for something they couldn't find.
A low, rasping voice reached outward through the dust. Not sound. Something else.
Who… am I?
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