Chapter 98: Mammon: "Nothing I Love More Than Beating Up Evil Organizations"
Mammon didn't linger in Slateport. After a quick meal at a hotel near the airport, the three of them set out for Lavaridge Town.
Lavaridge was one of Hoenn's most well-known destinations — a town famous for its hot springs. Locals claimed the volcanic waters could cure just about any ailment, which may or may not have been true, but it had made the town's reputation regardless. Even setting aside the medicinal angle, the springs themselves were genuinely spectacular.
Lavaridge was also the site of one of Hoenn's official Gyms.
They arrived at two in the afternoon.
What greeted them outside the town, however, was unexpected.
A crowd of people had gathered at the outskirts — and at the front stood a young woman with a striking head of vivid red hair, accompanied by an Officer Jenny.
Mammon recognized the redhead immediately. That was Flannery — the current Lavaridge Gym Leader.
Odd. Did the Hoenn League somehow predict my itinerary? He turned that over and dismissed it. Even if the Hoenn League knew he was coming, there was no reason they'd send a single Gym Leader to intercept him.
"Lord Mammon, something's off," Gladion murmured.
The setup was genuinely strange.
"Mm. But it's not about us," Caitlin said quietly.
Mammon thought for a moment, then smiled and led the two of them toward the crowd.
Officer Jenny noticed their approach immediately and stepped forward, her expression sharp.
"Halt. Who are you?"
"Travelers, just arrived from Kanto today." Mammon kept his tone perfectly pleasant. "Is there a problem, Officer?"
"Identification?"
"Of course."
Mammon produced his Pokédex — something he hadn't reached for in quite a while. He made a mental note: he should ask Kukui for a Rotom Pokédex next time he was in Alola. Actually, better to have Lusamine broker that conversation. Kukui would probably refuse to deal with him directly.
Officer Jenny checked it briefly and handed it back. (A Pokédex functions as valid identification — it displays the trainer's registered information.)
"My apologies for the inconvenience. Welcome to Lavaridge Town."
"No trouble at all." Mammon smiled. "Mind if I ask what's going on? If there's anything we can help with — all three of us are reasonably capable trainers."
"That's kind of you, but this situation is dangerous. I wouldn't want to involve civilians."
Jenny hesitated, then started to frame a polite refusal.
"It's the evil organizations — someone reported in about an hour ago. Team Magma and Team Aqua are brawling on top of Mt. Chimney right now. We're keeping people out of the town as a precaution."
The bright voice cut across before Jenny could finish. Flannery, apparently.
"Flannery—" Jenny turned to her with obvious exasperation.
"What? You're too tactful, Jenny — there's no point dancing around it. If these three walked any closer they could practically see the mountain. Better they know what they're walking into."
Flannery delivered this with the cheerful bluntness of someone who had not yet internalized the concept of diplomatic restraint. She was tall and casually dressed, her red hair catching the afternoon light, radiating the kind of open, enthusiastic energy that made her personality immediately readable.
Jenny pinched the bridge of her nose.
"...Team Magma and Team Aqua are actually fighting on Mt. Chimney right now?" Caitlin said, mildly surprised.
In broad daylight. Out in the open. Hoenn's villainous organizations were apparently quite comfortable with this.
"That's correct. We've reported it to the Hoenn League, but Lavaridge doesn't have the police presence to intervene directly. We're doing what we can to protect the town and the tourists."
Jenny kept her voice level, though she was clearly a little embarrassed by the situation — these three had just arrived in Hoenn and immediately walked into this.
"Understood." Mammon took this in, and his smile widened slightly. Convenient.
"Please come into town. I assure you, you'll be safe here—"
Gladion's eye twitched.
It was the same face. Nearly identical to the one that had snapped handcuffs on him in Celadon and told him to settle down. And now that same face was telling him she'd protect him.
He was having some trouble keeping it together.
"No need." Mammon was already turning toward the mountain. "As trainers, we can't exactly walk past something like this and pretend we didn't notice."
"YEAH!!" Flannery's eyes lit up. "That's what I'm talking about! Hot guy, I, Flannery, respect you deeply!"
"Flannery! Enough!" Jenny caught her by the arm. "You promised your grandfather you'd protect Lavaridge Town — that's your job right now—"
Flannery wilted.
"I'm just worried about those three going up alone," she muttered.
"Don't be." Jenny watched Mammon's retreating figure for a moment, her brow creasing slightly. "They're... not ordinary people."
She couldn't put a precise name to it, but it was the kind of thing you could sense — in the way someone carried themselves, in the quality of their composure. All three of them had it.
Sometimes you could simply tell, at a glance, that you were looking at someone exceptional.
The boy in front especially.
Mt. Chimney.
An active — or technically dormant, though it showed little interest in acting dormant — volcano rising over fifteen hundred meters. One of Hoenn's notable landmarks. Volcanic ash drifted down from it in a constant fine haze.
"Our timing really is something."
Mammon hadn't expected to stumble directly into a Team Magma versus Team Aqua brawl within hours of landing in Hoenn.
At the crater's rim, the summit was in chaos.
Members in flame-red uniforms and members in deep blue uniforms were battling across the volcanic rock in every direction. And at the edge of the crater itself—
"Aha ha ha~ You're good, I'll give you that. No wonder you've been sticking your nose into Team Magma's business — you actually have something to back it up."
The voice was soft and high-pitched with a faint, unsettling edge of delight to it. Across from its source, a girl with light-brown hair and a pure, sharp face had her expression screwed tight — staring at the laughing Team Magma admin in front of her.
The admin wore a fitted red turtleneck and hood, her complexion pale and smooth, her eyes a striking purple. Her legs, pale under the deep crimson of her outfit, drew the eye. She carried herself with a particular kind of unhinged grace.
Team Magma Admin Courtney.
"What's so funny?" the girl demanded.
May couldn't figure this woman out. She'd just beaten her Camerupt, and Courtney was laughing.
What was wrong with her.
"Hehe~ Because you're so cute. Truly — strong enough to make me a little sick."
Courtney tilted her head, a smile that didn't quite belong on a human face spreading across her features.
Her voice really was something — honeyed and soft in a way that should have been pleasant — but May had goosebumps.
"What are you even saying. Hmph! Villains like you — none of you are getting away today!"
May refused to let her footing slip. She held Courtney's gaze and kept her expression fierce.
"Too cute. You're too cute, little girl. You won today, I'll admit it — but Team Magma's plan isn't something a little girl can stop. Remember that."
Courtney's grin spread wider.
"Oh? Would you be willing to elaborate on that? Team Magma's plan?"
A clear, unhurried male voice drifted in from the side, its amusement completely unguarded.
Courtney and May both turned.
Three figures were approaching from the mountainside path. And on the back of what appeared to be a large Skarmory behind them, slumped like a unconscious man being carried — a figure that Courtney recognized.
Team Aqua's admin. The one who had been leading this operation.
Already captured. Draped across a Pokémon's back like a sack.
That's not good.
Courtney's unhinged smile contracted slowly. Her eyes narrowed. These three who had appeared from nowhere were clearly not ordinary — and that already-infuriating girl beside them made the odds look even worse.
May studied the three newcomers with undisguised curiosity. She hadn't expected anyone else to make it up here.
So she wasn't fighting alone after all.
"What luck — first day in Hoenn and it's already interesting."
Mammon looked between Courtney and May, then let his gaze settle on May.
She was about what he'd expected from the game's female protagonist — clean-cut and genuinely pretty, red-white bandana, halter top that suggested she was filling it out well for her age, white shorts, black safety shorts underneath. A Swampert with an impressive presence standing at her side.
That's May. Game-continuity version.
Mammon raised an eyebrow slightly.
He'd just remembered, unbidden, a particular scene from Pokémon: Evolutions — May's Mega Swampert delivering a hit that had nearly knocked Rayquaza's soul clean out of its body.
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