Chapter 253: Mega Mewtwo Y! We're Getting New Allies
Stepping out of Rika's residence, the mood between Goodshow and Looker stayed heavy the whole way. There was no getting around it — the conversation had ended badly.
Goodshow genuinely hadn't expected Mammon's ambitions to run this deep. "Team Rocket will handle every evil organization and ambitious opportunist going forward" — wasn't Team Rocket already the biggest evil organization out there?
"Chairman, I think we need to call another session and discuss this properly," Looker said, voice heavy.
"Mammon's ambition is far too large — he clearly intends to place himself above the League itself!"
The League can't do what Team Rocket can do? That sounded good on paper, sure — but was it really that the League couldn't? The League could. It simply valued life more. That was exactly why League law carried no death penalty — and the proof was right there: under League governance, the world genuinely had remained at peace. Sure, there were ambitious opportunists and evil organizations out there, but under the League's watch, none of them had truly gone around hurting ordinary people. At worst, it came down to things like stealing Pokémon.
But what Mammon described — Team Rocket taking it upon itself to deal with every criminal organization and evildoer across every region — that would obviously mean brutal, extreme, unrestrained methods. Which fundamentally clashed with everything the League's laws and regulations stood for.
"Right. Let's head back for now," Goodshow said, nodding.
For Goodshow, really, it came down to two choices: maintain the status quo, or push for reform. But either way, having an organization sit as an equal power alongside the League was, in Goodshow's eyes, never going to be a good thing. Team Rocket clearly had no intention of respecting the League's laws or its authority — if the leader himself didn't care, would his subordinates? That wasn't even worth wondering about.
Left unchecked for long enough, it was hard to imagine what Team Rocket would eventually become — it would slip entirely out of anyone's control.
Still, there was at least one silver lining: Team Rocket wouldn't be committing blatant atrocities anymore — no more stealing ordinary people's Pokémon, no more of that outrage-inducing genetic experimentation. Goodshow had confirmed both of those points directly with Mammon himself.
Back at Rika's estate.
"Doesn't seem like Goodshow left satisfied," Caitlin remarked, glancing at Mammon — it had been obvious from Goodshow and Looker's expressions on the way out that they were far from pleased.
"Of course not," Mammon nodded, matter-of-fact. "No one in power enjoys having an uncontrollable underground force spring up out of nowhere — especially one that openly declares it won't follow their laws," Mammon said with an easy smile.
He'd known from the start this conversation with Goodshow would end badly. Goodshow had come looking for peace of mind — some kind of assurance from Mammon he could use to justify tolerating Team Rocket's existence, as long as it didn't overstep. After all, in Alola, Hoenn, and Unova, the branches of Team Rocket under Mammon had all been operating within reasonable bounds so far — a bit underhanded in method, sure, but nothing unacceptable.
But Mammon wanted to be king of the underworld, and clearly had no intention of playing by the League's rules. That crossed a real line. Didn't that just mean Team Rocket could do whatever it wanted and the League had no recourse at all? What was even the point of the League existing, then?
"No matter, though — he'll come to understand eventually," Mammon said, unbothered. Sooner or later, once Goodshow grasped the actual gap in power between them, he'd understand. Mammon simply wanted to be an unbound authority answering to no one — was there anything wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. And if that stubborn old man Goodshow refused to accept it, well, he'd learn the hard way soon enough.
Mammon turned his gaze to the world map spread before him.
"Sinnoh, Kalos, Galar, Paldea."
Mammon studied the four remaining regions, mulling it over — these were the only ones left he hadn't visited yet.
Honestly, he found himself genuinely torn. Paldea, personally, was tempting — the Great Crater of Paldea alone held so many "treasures." Those solidly powerful Paradox Pokémon, the two Loyal Three guardian dragons, and the little turtle Terapagos slumbering deep within Area Zero. A trip to Area Zero alone would net a substantial haul, and he could swing by Northprovince along the way to catch the Poltergeist duo, plus the legendary "Partner Pokémon" and Pecharunt. So Paldea would absolutely be worth the trip in terms of raw gains — the problem was, Paldea didn't have an evil organization to speak of. Team Star? That was just a bunch of bullied kids who fought back, not exactly criminal masterminds.
Still, the other regions weren't lacking either. Galar had Eternatus, plus the legendaries scattered through the Crown Tundra — and with how much Mammon had grown by now, he didn't need to fear Rose and Leon teaming up against him anymore. But same problem — Galar had no rival "companions" of his own age, which would take some of the fun out of it.
Sinnoh and Kalos, though, both had "companions" — and while the haul from those two regions might not match Paldea or Galar, the entertainment value was guaranteed to be high. Kalos had Hoopa — Hoopa alone could probably generate no end of dramatic set-pieces. And Sinnoh — well, that one hardly needed explaining. The six deities who shaped matter and spirit at the dawn of creation, and the one true, undisputed apex of the entire Pokémon world, "the Alpaca" — both resided in Sinnoh!
Caitlin seemed to sense Mammon was mulling over which region to visit and didn't offer her own opinion. Wherever Mammon wanted to go, she was fine with it either way — made no difference to her.
"Caitlin, want to visit home?" Mammon asked, after a thoughtful pause.
Caitlin blinked at that, then a perfectly composed, faint smile spread across her exquisite features.
"Mm~"
About another week passed in Kanto. At the base in Lavender Town.
"As expected of you, Dr. Fuji — I can't believe you actually pulled it off." Mammon looked at the beautiful, refined Mega Stone in his hand, offering the exhausted Dr. Fuji genuine praise. Dark Mewtwo's Mega Stone had been successfully completed!
"Only thanks to Mewtwo and Colress's help — otherwise it wouldn't have gone this fast," Dr. Fuji said, shaking his head. The reason things had wrapped up so quickly was mostly because the groundwork had already been in place; it was only that with Mammon and Dark Mewtwo constantly off in other regions, he'd never had reliable access to Dark Mewtwo's precise data or the chance for hands-on experimentation. With both Dark Mewtwo and Colress assisting this stretch, progress had naturally sped up considerably.
"Dr. Fuji is too modest — I really didn't contribute much of anything," Colress said, smiling.
"Let's give it a try, then," Dr. Fuji said to Mammon. The basics should hold, but just in case—
"All right." Mammon nodded, looking toward Dark Mewtwo.
Deep violet flames flickered in Dark Mewtwo's eyes, betraying its current emotional state. The Mega Stone lifted into the air, gradually sinking into Dark Mewtwo's body. Mammon raised the Key Stone toward it, and dazzling light of Mega Evolution began to blaze across Dark Mewtwo's form.
Mega Evolution! Success!
Rika and Caitlin's eyes lit up — no mistaking it, this was the unmistakable herald of a successful Mega Evolution.
The evolution didn't take long. Soon the light faded, revealing a Pokémon standing in its place, noticeably smaller in build.
"Did it actually work?" Rika asked, staring at the "Dark Mewtwo" before her, a little startled.
Its body was much smaller than before — if the original Dark Mewtwo had carried itself like an "adult," this new form gave off the distinct impression of a "child." Its eyes still flickered with the same unsettling deep violet flames, the strange golden stone still embedded in its right shoulder, and the "tail" trailing from the back of its head now stretched even longer than its whole body. The overall impression looked far more like Mew than before — though its body remained entirely black.
"Mewtwo, how does it feel?" Mammon's mouth curled slowly upward — of course it had worked. This was Mega Mewtwo Y.
"Absolutely... incredible."
Mega Mewtwo Y looked down at its own arms, eyes flickering with excited light.
"Mammon, right now, I'm terrifyingly strong!"
Mega Mewtwo Y's telepathy sounded noticeably younger somehow, none of its usual low weight to it. Power! I can feel it flowing without end! Overwhelming power! It even had the sense that if it simply used its psychic power casually, it could lift an entire mountain — and with a deliberate surge of willpower, reduce that same mountain to nothing but dust and ash.
This kind of power — it found itself utterly captivated by it.
"Good," Mammon said, nodding, satisfied. He recalled the Pokédex entry for Mega Mewtwo Y well enough: Though its body shrinks, its power grows to an incalculable degree — the slightest use of its psychic energy is enough to reduce even a skyscraper to ash.
"Mammon, I don't think Mewtwo's potential has been fully explored yet, though," Dr. Fuji said. "During the experiments, I noticed another possibility in Mewtwo's makeup — but given the time constraints, we focused on this one direction for now." Dr. Fuji's reservations about Mammon hadn't changed, exactly — it was just that since the research had been carried out jointly by Dark Mewtwo and Colress, they'd surely have picked up on it too.
"Then I'll leave that in your capable hands, Dr. Fuji — though I'll be leaving Kanto again shortly."
"That's fine. The experimental data's basically complete now — it shouldn't take long to produce the other stone as well," Dr. Fuji said, nodding. "Once this work is finished, I want nothing further to do with Team Rocket."
"Of course. I've always kept my word," Mammon said, smiling.
Dr. Fuji looked at Mammon's smile and sighed inwardly — he could only hope that held true. What choice did he have otherwise, really? At least, for now, his Pokémon sanctuary was doing well enough, thanks to the supplies Team Rocket kept sending over.
Dark Mewtwo now being able to Mega Evolve marked a substantial boost to Mammon's overall strength, which left him in an excellent mood.
"I'll want to bring Kagura along again for this Sinnoh trip." At a villa in Goldenrod City, Mammon mulled over who to bring next. Kagura and Gladion, definitely. Colress and N would stay behind to hold down Kanto — after all, things with Goodshow had essentially fallen apart, and the Kanto League might well make some kind of move soon. Kanto's Rocket operation would need someone strong minding the store. N had Zekrom; even Dragon Master Lance himself wouldn't dare take him lightly in the short term. Colress, meanwhile, preferred staying in the lab doing research anyway, so — fine by him.
"The Berlitz family, is it? I heard Cynthia's already had everyone involved in that old incident rounded up," Caitlin recalled.
"Doesn't matter — Kagura needs to settle this score herself. And I heard this generation of the Berlitz family produced a girl with genuinely terrifying talent, didn't they?"
"Mm, Platinum Berlitz, I believe — though I think she prefers being called Lady," Caitlin said. Being from Sinnoh herself, she knew the Berlitz family reasonably well — as Sinnoh's most prestigious noble house, the Berlitz name carried real weight. Even without any particularly powerful trainers in this current generation, plenty of Berlitz family members were renowned scholars, still holding considerable standing in Sinnoh. Mr. Berlitz especially — both he and his wife were well-known academics, and Lady was their daughter. Even Professor Rowan had deep ties to the Berlitz family, since Mr. Berlitz served as his assistant.
"Perhaps... we might just come away with a very promising new ally," Mammon said, his mouth curling into a slow smile laced with unmistakable malicious intent.
(End of Chapter)
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