Chapter 250: Ash: I Will Defeat Mammon and Save Rika!
What was the single most sensational piece of news going around lately?
Naturally, it was the regime change at the evil organization Team Rocket — the new boss now none other than Mammon, last year's Indigo League Conference champion!
Honestly, when Ash's group first heard the news, their gut reaction was to write it off as a rumor. After all, they'd met Mammon in person, and he was clearly a genuinely good-natured guy!
But Misty dug up plenty of sources, and someone had even recorded the broadcast Mammon gave at the time. And then...
Then all three of them went quiet.
Ash especially felt conflicted about it — he genuinely liked Mammon, had even privately marked him as a future rival worth measuring himself against. He never imagined Mammon would turn out to be a member of Team Rocket, of all things.
And now, of all places — they'd run into him. Right here in Celadon City!
Which, when you thought about it, was strange in itself. Sure, this was a training hub of sorts, but the leader of an evil organization strolling around this openly, right out in the open? Was that even normal?
"Yo~ Ash, and everyone — small world, huh."
Mammon looked just as surprised, offering the group an easy, smiling wave.
"Mammon — are you really the leader of Team Rocket?" Ash's eyes carried both wariness and a flicker of hope — maybe it was just someone with the same name?
"Didn't expect you to already know about that, Ash. But yeah, that's right — I'm Team Rocket's boss," Mammon confirmed, entirely at ease.
"!!" Ash's expression froze solid.
This was insane! Some kid he'd happened to meet on the road had turned out to be the final boss of an entire evil organization! None of the shows ever had a plot twist like this.
"Then what about Gym Leader Rika? Why is she with you?" Misty asked, eyeing Rika trailing behind Mammon — the Leader of the Celadon Gym.
Rika's pretty face twisted with something conflicted, her mouth opening as if she wanted to say something.
"Miss Rika here is my captured prize, actually. My sweet-smelling little Rika really is quite adorable," Mammon said instead, sliding an arm around Rika's waist and pulling her flush against him without warning.
The sudden motion startled a small yelp out of Rika before she could react.
"Let her go!"
"How could you do this!"
"Mammon, this isn't right!"
All three of them recoiled, stunned. Wasn't this literally kidnapping? This was going too far.
"Oh? So you're planning to stop me, are you? Rescue Miss Rika?" Mammon looked at the three of them, clearly entertained. "Because otherwise, I'll just be taking her with me."
"I will never let you get away with this! Miss Rika, don't worry — we'll definitely rescue you!" Ash's eyes were unshakably resolute. He wouldn't let something like this happen right in front of him — Miss Rika was Celadon's Gym Leader, and this city needed her. He had to save her!
"..." Rika kept her head lowered, hoping desperately none of the three would catch the expression on her face.
"Commendable courage, but — I'm the boss of Team Rocket, Ash. You really think the three of you stand a chance against me?" Mammon kept Rika held close, unhurried, his tone lazy and easy.
He found this whole thing amusing, honestly — watching Ash come charging in shouting about "justice" and "peace" and "saving people."
"No matter who I'm up against — as long as my Pokémon and I fight together as one, we can always win!" Ash declared, fists clenched, brimming with righteous conviction. Facing down an actual evil organization only sharpened his fighting spirit further.
"Tch~" Mammon clicked his tongue.
"Then let me help you get acquainted with reality."
Mammon thought it over briefly, then pulled out a Poké Ball. Elegant and aloof, the North Wind's incarnation appeared before him, gazing calmly ahead.
But the next instant, something shifted subtly in Suicune's expression. It had caught the scent of Lady Ho-Oh's rainbow feather on the cap-wearing boy across from it — and looking closer, wasn't this the very boy its Ho-Oh honor guard had once observed from afar?
Suicune blinked, but didn't dwell on it long. It belonged to Mammon now, after all, and it had made a promise to him — to work toward a clear, pure blue world. Even if the opponent happened to be a boy that Lady Ho-Oh herself had taken an interest in, it didn't matter. Mammon could always summon Ho-Oh herself as backup if it came to that, anyway.
On Ash's side, though, Misty and Brock were floored.
"Suicune!" Misty gasped — one of her absolute favorite Pokémon.
"One of the legendary Ho-Oh honor guard — Suicune," Brock breathed, equally stunned. A legendary Pokémon, right here!
Ash, characteristically, didn't quite grasp the significance, but he picked up on Misty and Brock's tone well enough to know this Pokémon was clearly no joke. He pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at Suicune.
"Suicune, the Water-type, Aurora Pokémon. Said to be the incarnation of the north wind, it possesses the power to instantly purify murky, polluted water."
The Pokédex offered its brief rundown.
Incarnation of the north wind? Sounded pretty strong.
"Why would Suicune follow someone in Team Rocket?" Misty still couldn't quite process it. She'd actually had a bit of a soft spot for Mammon before — well, because he was handsome, exactly her type. But now that she knew he was the leader of an evil organization like this, that whole impression had shattered instantly. And now he'd gone and kidnapped Gym Leader Rika, apparently planning to drag her off to do who-knows-what unspeakable things to her. And a Pokémon like Suicune actually approved of a person like that? Misty found the whole thing baffling.
"Doesn't matter why — if it's the opponent, then all we have to do is beat it!" Ash, characteristically, wasn't overthinking any of it. "And since it's Water-type — Pikachu! You're up!"
"Pika... chu!" Pikachu leapt down from Ash's shoulder full of energy, landing across from Suicune, small sparks of electricity crackling from its cheek pouches.
Ash had plenty of confidence in his Pikachu — Electric beats Water, the type advantage was on his side here. This one, he'd win.
"I don't know why you joined Team Rocket, Mammon! But I'm going to beat you!" And bring you back to the right path! — that last part he didn't say out loud, but he still believed, deep down, that Mammon wasn't purely a bad person. Beat him, and surely he'd come to his senses.
"Confident, aren't you? But I'm afraid you won't manage it, Ash." Mammon chuckled softly, crooking a finger at him. "Come on, then — let's see what your Pikachu's really made of."
He was, admittedly, quite curious how far Ash had come. This was, after all, the template for the anime's Rainbow Hero Ash — a kid with genuinely exceptional talent.
Mammon's easy, utterly unbothered confidence, like he wasn't taking Ash seriously in the slightest, sent a hot flush of anger straight to Ash's head.
"Damn it, so full of himself!"
Clearly, this Ash was still that same impulsive kid — nothing like the more seasoned, level-headed hero from later in the anime's travels.
"Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"
Ash gave the order decisively, launching straight into the attack. Technically, this wasn't a formal battle — Ash could easily have sent out several of his strongest Pokémon at once, as long as he could manage commanding them all. But that wasn't who he was. Besides, he figured — if Mammon was only using a single Suicune, and he brought out multiple Pokémon in response? That would clearly be unfair.
Sure, "fairness" was a slightly funny thing to insist on with an evil organization — but that was genuinely how Ash felt about it right now.
Pikachu's legs pumped rapidly, sprinting forward before launching into a leap, electricity crackling to life across its body — a swift, blitzing Thunderbolt.
"Extreme Speed."
Suicune lifted its head toward Pikachu, its gaze staying cool and unbothered. The Thunderbolt closed in — but a gust of wind passed through, and Suicune's form vanished from the spot instantly.
The Thunderbolt struck the ground. A clean miss.
"So fast!" Misty gasped at the sight.
"With the priority boost from Extreme Speed, Suicune's speed is just on another level," Brock said quietly.
The Thunderbolt fizzled out, the electricity around Pikachu fading as it began to land.
But the next second—
THWACK!
A blurred, pale blue shape slammed hard into Pikachu, wringing out a pained cry as it hit the ground. Suicune's Extreme Speed strike!
"Pikachu!" Ash cried out, worried.
"Ice Beam."
Before it had even landed, Suicune's mouth was already gathering icy light, a winding beam of frost shooting straight at the downed Pikachu. The follow-up came terrifyingly fast.
"Pikachu! Dodge it, quick!" Ash shouted.
Mammon raised an eyebrow at that. Shouting "dodge it" this early into the fight? Had he given up on offense already?
Pikachu forced its eyes open, gritting through the lingering pain of the Extreme Speed hit, scrambling up and leaping backward — narrowly, barely dodging the incoming Ice Beam.
Suicune wasn't done, though — it kept the beam tracking, extending and curving to chase Pikachu down, glittering crystals of ice forming wherever the beam passed. Pikachu tumbled and scrambled, retreating in a mad scramble, coming within a hair of getting caught, but managing — barely — to stay clear each time. Pikachu really was remarkably agile.
The Ice Beam finally cut off — but before Pikachu could catch its breath, that pale blue shape came streaking in again like lightning.
THWACK!
Another dull impact — Suicune's Extreme Speed landing a second hit, sending Pikachu flying clean off its feet.
Extreme Speed really was absurdly fast — even Ash's Pikachu couldn't react in time, and that was before factoring in the sheer gap in raw strength between the two sides.
"Pikachu! Damn it!" Ash gritted his teeth. This Extreme Speed was simply too fast — Pikachu had no good way to counter it. And on top of that...
Watching Pikachu already panting for breath after just two hits of Extreme Speed made it clear just how much raw power was behind Suicune's speed as well.
"Ash's Pikachu really is a tank — surviving two hits of Extreme Speed like that." Mammon kept one arm around Rika's slender waist, stroking his chin thoughtfully with the other hand.
Really, anyone who'd watched the anime could pick up on it — Ash's Pikachu was about as close to a flawless Pokémon as it got. Physical attack, special attack, defense, burst power, agility, stamina — nearly perfect across the board. And Pikachu's sheer willpower was almost absurd — genuinely like some unkillable cockroach of a Pokémon at times. "Get up," "hang in there," "show some backbone" — that kind of encouragement could reliably trigger some untapped threshold in Pikachu.
Unfortunately, though, against Mammon's Suicune, Pikachu simply wasn't in the same league right now — it couldn't even counter Suicune's Extreme Speed, let alone land a hit of its own.
Ash's brow furrowed tight. Should he switch to Charizard?
Well — Charizard and Pikachu were the two strongest members of his current team. But Charizard was weak to Water...
Ash was thoroughly torn.
(End of Chapter)
☆☆☆
-> 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