Chapter 177: Congratulations, You've Caught a Lugia
Viridian City. Giovanni was in a good mood today.
Yesterday evening, his younger son Silver had finally come home to Viridian — and a father and son separated for ten years had, at last, been reunited.
The first few hours had carried the inevitable awkwardness of a decade's absence. That couldn't be helped. But it wasn't a problem.
As long as this was truly his son — and Giovanni had no doubt that it was — they would find their way to each other. He was certain of that.
And indeed, Silver hadn't resisted him. Quiet and reserved as the boy was by nature, he'd been accepting of Giovanni as his father — actively accepting, even.
"Father. Can I contact a friend and ask them to come here?"
Silver looked up from the dinner table.
"Of course." Giovanni smiled warmly. "This is your home, Silver. You're welcome to bring friends by anytime. May I ask — who is it?"
"A sort of older sister." Silver's voice was soft. "Leaf has been looking after me all these years. I don't know what I would have become without her."
"...I'm sorry, Silver." Giovanni's smile faded slowly. He exhaled. "That's my fault."
"It's alright, Father. That man—" Silver's expression darkened slightly. He knew his father was supposed to be strong — Giovanni was called the greatest Gym Leader in all of Kanto, after all. But compared to the Masked Man—
"Let's not dwell on painful things." Giovanni caught the shift in Silver's mood and smoothly redirected, his voice gentle. "If she's been like a sister to you, then invite her. Tell her to treat this place as a second home."
"Okay!"
A real smile broke across Silver's face. He grabbed his phone and called.
"Hello~? Silver, what's up?" Leaf's bright voice came through immediately.
"Leaf — I found my family!"
Silver couldn't quite keep the joy out of his voice.
"What?! Really?! Silver, that's amazing!!"
"Yeah. I talked to my father — he said to invite you over. We're at the Viridian Gym, in Viridian City. I—"
"Hold on." Something shifted in Leaf's voice. "Silver. Where did you say your family lives?"
"The Viridian Gym. Is something wrong?"
"The Viridian Gym..." Leaf's voice had gone very quiet. "Then — what is Mammon to you?"
Her mind had gone back, unbidden, to Celadon — to the black-haired young man whose mere presence had pressed down on the air like a weight. She still remembered it clearly. She'd never encountered someone her own age that powerful.
"Mammon is my brother. Leaf, what's going on?"
Silver was perceptive. He'd already sensed something was off.
"...Has Gym Leader Giovanni not told you?" Leaf hesitated. "About Mammon?"
She could guess the answer. Giovanni had probably been waiting for the right moment. And Silver had only just come home — she understood why.
Silver's brow furrowed. He ended the call. He walked back to the table.
"Father."
"Yes?" Giovanni registered his son's expression immediately.
"Is there something you're not telling me? About my brother?"
"..." Giovanni's brow creased slightly.
He hadn't told Silver directly. Even now, he wasn't sure where he would have begun.
"That's my fault," he said quietly, and let out a slow breath.
"I neglected Mammon. I didn't pay enough attention to him. That's why he ended up—"
He paused.
"—joining Team Rocket."
CRASH.
Something in Silver's chest went sideways.
His pupils went wide. He stared at his father, motionless.
He'd — just heard — what, exactly?
"My brother..." The words came out barely above a whisper. "...joined Team Rocket?"
His brother — warm, gentle, with that easy smile and that embrace Silver had been dreaming of for ten years — was a member of an evil organization?
"...That can't be right."
Silver could still see it so clearly. The soft smile. The voice. The arms around him that had felt like coming home.
And now someone was telling him that the person behind that warmth was a criminal.
Silver's face had gone white.
How was he supposed to believe that.
Whirl Island One.
"The sun is nice here. It's just—" Mammon was stretched out on a flat rock, hands folded behind his head, squinting at the endless blue of the sea. "—it's still not Alola."
The waters of the Kanto region were clear and beautiful, the sunlight sending ripples of silver dancing across the surface. He could acknowledge that.
But there were no golden sand beaches. No coconut palms swaying in the warm breeze. Something was missing.
"The Alola sea..." Zuki brushed a strand of hair out of her face where the ocean wind had caught it, her eyes going a little distant. "I've heard it's beautiful."
She wasn't wearing her Ecruteak stage kimono today — her natural hair fell in long deep-blue waves, and the overall effect was quite something.
Beside her, Tamao sat with her arms around her knees, staring out at the water. Whatever she was thinking about, she'd kept it to herself.
The weight of ancestral duty had kept both of them in Johto their whole lives. The Alola beaches were famous the world over. They'd never gone.
"The ocean's the ocean, more or less," Mammon said. "But the beaches and the tropical atmosphere really are worth experiencing. I'll take you sometime, if the opportunity comes up."
Zuki blinked. She looked at Mammon's profile for a moment, and didn't say anything.
"Well. No sign of the little one yet." Mammon glanced out at the water. A mechanical Psyduck was paddling around on the surface, going in slow circles.
His idea. Bait for the baby Lugia.
Twenty-some minutes in, and still no Lugia had materialized. Mammon sighed inwardly. He wasn't in a hurry, but he wasn't getting younger, either.
There were worse ways to wait. He called over a grunt and had two fishing rods brought out, and settled in beside Caitlin to fish.
The waters around the Whirl Islands were famously rich. The fish here were supposed to be excellent.
They'd be better if they were more varied, though.
First catch: red Magikarp.
Second catch: red Magikarp.
Third catch: red Magikarp.
By the tenth catch, still nothing but Splash-using red Magikarp.
Mammon stared at the latest one flopping around at his feet with the hollow expression of a man whose soul had briefly departed his body.
Is there anything else in this ocean. A Goldeen. Anything. Please.
Zuki and Tamao were both hiding smiles behind their hands. Even Caitlin's mouth had curved upward slightly — though her own haul had been technically worse than Mammon's.
She'd caught a Shellder. Which was, at minimum, not a Magikarp.
"Another bite."
The rod lurched in Mammon's hands. He was on his feet in an instant.
"That's a strong pull. Definitely not a Magikarp this time."
He could feel it — whatever was on the line was substantial.
"Go, Lord Mammon!!" Zuki cheered with great enthusiasm.
Mammon waited for the right moment, then heaved the rod back.
A flash of gold flew out of the water and landed heavily on the shore.
"...Hm."
Mammon set the rod down. He looked at the gold Pokémon flopping around on the rocks with an expression that could not easily be described.
How to put this.
"It's a Magikarp." He produced a Poké Ball with the energy of a man making peace with his circumstances. "Another Magikarp."
It was, however, a golden Magikarp.
A shiny Magikarp.
"A shiny Magikarp!!" Zuki clasped both hands over her mouth. "Lord Mammon, that's incredible!!"
Magikarp were a common catch anywhere with water — you couldn't throw a stone without finding them in most lakes and rivers. But a shiny one was genuinely rare, even so.
"Could be worse luck." Mammon tossed out an Ultra Ball and caught it without ceremony.
He turned the ball over in his hand, genuinely conflicted.
It had taken him a very long time to fish it up, this little "golden legend." Mega Gyarados was respectable — solid, reliable. Not a bad addition in principle.
But his main team was already overflowing, and his Water-types in particular were getting crowded. He had Tapu Fini, Suicune, and Primal Kyogre. Adding a fourth Water specialist would make him wonder when he'd signed up to be a Water-type Champion, a title he was not yet emotionally prepared for.
"...I'll hold onto it," he decided, tucking the ball away. Mega Gyarados had its uses. Good for a rotation now and then.
"Mammon! Come look at this!"
Caitlin's voice. There was something in it — surprise, which from Caitlin was noteworthy.
"What kind of Pokémon is this?"
Mammon crossed to her, and the moment his eyes found the creature on the ground, he stopped.
It looked like a bird, and a dragon, and neither. Solid white, with a mask-like structure across its face and a pale blue belly. Small — maybe sixty centimeters, sitting on its haunches with both tiny wings drooping at its sides, its round, wide eyes trained curiously on Caitlin.
"Mrrh~"
A small, soft sound.
"..."
Mammon looked down at the shiny Magikarp ball in his hand. He looked at the tiny creature on the ground. He looked at the Magikarp ball again.
Zuki and Tamao had gone very still, expressions oscillating between baffled and disbelieving.
Zuki, moving slowly, reached into her bag and pulled out an old book — something passed down through her family across generations. She flipped through it with urgent, careful hands.
"Mammon, do you recognize this Pokémon?" Caitlin asked quietly. She was watching the little creature with undisguised interest. As a psychic herself, she could sense something — a hum of power in it, unmistakable. Psychic-type, almost certainly. Which suited her fine. "I can feel psychic energy in it."
"Well." Mammon crouched down in front of the small creature. It blinked up at him, head tilted to one side.
"Mrrh?"
"I found it!" Zuki's voice cracked with excitement. She'd located the right page, checked it twice, and now stared between the illustration and the creature with wide eyes. "I — I know what this is!"
She'd had a suspicion from the first moment she saw it, but the gap between the image in her mind and the thing sitting in front of her had been so vast she hadn't dared say it.
"This is Lugia!!"
"...?"
Caitlin's face did something it very rarely did — it went visibly, openly shocked. She looked at Zuki.
Is she serious. This tiny thing. I've never seen a Lugia in my life, don't play with me.
"Zuki's right." Mammon reached into his pocket and produced a small bread roll, which he offered to the creature. It accepted it immediately and began eating with the focused, blissful energy of someone who had been waiting for exactly this. He watched it for a moment, then looked back at Caitlin. "You fished up a Lugia."
Caitlin stared at the little creature — eyes half-closed with contentment, chewing its bread with both tiny wings limp, making small happy noises — and her expression became very difficult to parse.
This.
This was the legendary guardian of the sea.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you