Chapter 321: "I'm Mammon, from Kanto." Diantha Breaks Out in a Cold Sweat.
What kind of world is the Pokémon world, really?
For someone from Mammon's original world, honestly, the Pokémon world could genuinely be described as something close to a semi-utopian ideal. Dreams, brightness, wonder — through Ash, through Ash's own perspective, we see a truly, deeply beautiful version of the Pokémon world.
But in reality, the Pokémon world has plenty of darkness running through it too.
Setting aside the various ambitious schemers, collectors, and Pokémon poachers Ash encountered along his travels — some driven by an insatiable urge to collect, some by wealth, some by ambition, some by the desire for eternal life — the movies and the anime alike have already shown plenty of that.
And of the actual villainous organizations that exist natively in the games, the one that left the deepest impression on Mammon actually wasn't Team Rocket at all — it was Team Flare.
Team Rocket's goal, after all, was simple: make money off Pokémon. Team Magma and Team Aqua wanted to expand land or sea. Team Galactic was, frankly, just plain unhinged from the start. Team Plasma's Ghetsis was a pure, straightforward opportunist chasing power.
But Team Flare was different. What was Lysandre's actual ideal?
He wanted to wipe out the vast majority of dirty, ugly life — not just humans, but Pokémon too. Eliminate the overwhelming majority of living things, and the world would become flawless and beautiful.
Why would someone end up thinking that way?
Because Lysandre had once genuinely held the purest, most beautiful of intentions — calling him a true philanthropist in his early years wouldn't be an exaggeration at all.
And it was precisely because of that, that he came face to face with the ugliest side of human nature.
And precisely because of that, he came to believe the world needed to be cleansed and remade — that as long as lazy, ugly lives like these kept existing, the world could never truly become beautiful.
So the organization he led, Team Flare, gradually curdled into an extremist group.
This mindset, incidentally, was essentially identical to the one held by Kanto's Elite Four member Lorelei — no wait, this was Ado — in the Pokémon Adventures manga. In that continuity, Ado starts out as exactly this kind of extreme antagonist boss, likewise aiming to wipe out the vast majority of humanity to create a "perfect" utopia. Yeah — and then, after being defeated, Ado came to his senses.
But Lysandre never got that same chance. In the games, once the protagonist thwarted his plan, Lysandre fell into despair, and — well, the outcome speaks for itself.
Mammon thought it over carefully. Across every generation's villainous organization boss, Lysandre seemed to be the only one whose story ended in outright death.
Giovanni disbanded Team Rocket and vanished to train and refine himself, waiting for the day he'd make his comeback. Maxie and Archie both returned the Orbs to the elderly couple and sincerely admitted their wrongdoing. Cyrus got dragged into the Distortion World by Giratina, left to contemplate his life in that shattered dimension. N and Colress got redeemed; Ghetsis was defeated by children — twice — and eventually went mad. As for post-Gen-7 villains, there's not much to even say — the worst outcome among them was arguably Lusamine's associate Guzma, calmly accepting arrest and imprisonment.
But Lysandre died. That, undeniably, left a real impression.
Sure, Lysandre was a dangerously unhinged man with a deeply dangerous ideology — but in Mammon's view, someone driven to madness by reality, like Lysandre, was actually a fair bit more sympathetic than someone like Cyrus, who simply believed himself above ordinary humanity from the start.
At the very least, Lysandre wasn't the type of person beyond all hope of redemption.
In Generation 7, when Rainbow Lysandre was defeated by Mitsuki, he'd hesitated for a moment — wondering whether, had a trainer like Mitsuki existed in his own world, he might have taken a different path.
Though in the very next instant, Rainbow Lysandre reaffirmed his convictions regardless.
"If there is even a possibility of making the world more beautiful, then even if I can only save a single drop in the ocean, I will walk that path without wavering."
That single line, honestly, sums up Lysandre's entire life.
Having witnessed humanity's ugliness and endless squabbling, he'd stubbornly convinced himself that wiping out that ugliness was the only way the world could ever become beautiful.
How to even describe that mindset?
You could really only call it pathological — and yet, somehow, pitiable at the same time.
"Team Flare — is that a dark organization?" Platinum felt a genuine pang of regret at all this, especially after hearing from Gladion that Team Flare had once been a charitable outfit, only to end up like this.
"Yeah, though right now Lysandre's still keeping himself pretty well hidden — his company's put out a lot of consumer devices that genuinely benefit people."
Mammon nodded. Team Flare's public reputation in Kalos wasn't stellar right now, sure, but it wasn't terrible either.
After all, Team Flare's roots traced back to a research institute, and most of its executives came up as scientists. The holographic communicator, for instance, was a Team Flare invention, now in widespread use across Kalos.
"Boss, so what's our move? Go straight after Team Flare and absorb them outright?"
Gladion asked after a moment's silence.
"No need for that. Team Flare's got plenty of talented people, but actually winning their genuine loyalty isn't going to be easy."
"Let's wait for them to expose themselves."
Mammon rested his chin on his hand. Taking down Team Flare, for him personally, honestly presented zero real difficulty.
Team Flare's overall strength was what it was — bringing them down, whether by sending the temp workers over or having Caitlin take a squad through personally, would be trivial either way.
But Mammon didn't want to destroy Team Flare. He wanted to absorb them.
"Right when they think they're about to succeed, we hit them hard — and then dangle a lifeline. They'll grab onto it."
Mammon grinned. Would Lysandre's plan actually succeed?
Honestly, even without Mammon interfering at all, Lysandre's success was essentially impossible from the start. Lysandre was simply too extreme — setting the "wipe out most of humanity" part aside for a moment.
He wasn't even sparing Pokémon. That alone — if Kanto's Dragon Master Lance ever caught wind of that, he'd probably fly straight over from Kanto just to grind Lysandre into the ground.
Even manga-canon Ado, pathological and extreme as he was, had at least confined his targeting to humans specifically — manga-Ado's original motivation, after all, had been building an ideal world for the sake of Pokémon and nature.
"Anyway — let's focus on building up our territory and business here for now, Gladion. I'll be counting on you for the heavy lifting."
Mammon stretched and smiled at Gladion.
"Serving the organization is only right." Gladion's stern expression didn't shift a bit. His official title within Team Rocket was still Senior Officer — but as Mammon's confidant, and one with genuine operational authority, his actual standing within the organization was effectively on par with a top-tier executive.
Lillie! I will absolutely be your pillar of support!
That was Gladion's brotherly conviction, yo!
As long as her big brother was around, not even Lady Caitlin would ever dare bully her!
Just watch. Just watch!
Mammon clapped Gladion on the shoulder. Honestly, out of all his subordinates, Gladion genuinely stood out as a model employee.
Fighting alongside him across countless campaigns, his importance went without saying — outside of Alola, Gladion held significant posts in practically every other region.
Not only was he responsible for growing the organization's business interests, he also handled all manner of internal administrative affairs — genuinely Mammon's right-hand man in every sense.
A brother-in-law this useful was truly a gift. No, wait — he really did need to hunt down another good Pokémon for his future brother-in-law sometime soon.
After a rough discussion of the organization's development plans for Kalos going forward, Mammon left the company building with Caitlin and Platinum in tow.
Since it was their first time in Lumiose City, naturally they had to spend some time exploring properly.
Lumiose was a big city, and since they'd be staying in Kalos for a while regardless, the three of them weren't in any rush, taking their time to wander and sightsee.
After roughly two hours of exploring, the three of them decided to take a break.
Café Rising Sun — a café on the southern side of the street, popular with people stealing a moment away from their busy days. It being the afternoon, though, the place wasn't especially crowded.
The moment they stepped inside, Mammon's gaze immediately drifted toward the interior of the café.
A man in a fitted black leather outfit, with wild orange hair like a lion's mane, his face mature and resolute — unmistakably Lysandre.
And seated across from him was a woman with fair skin, striking features, and elegant white attire.
Diantha — the actress famous throughout the Kalos region, and also the Kalos League's own Champion of the Elite Four!
This scene...
Mammon let out a soft, thoughtful click of his tongue and, after a moment's consideration, took a seat with Caitlin and Platinum at the table right beside Lysandre and Diantha.
Diantha gently stirred her coffee with a delicate little spoon, and when she noticed Mammon's group approaching, glanced up at them out of pure reflex.
Getting a proper look at the three of them, Diantha couldn't help but feel a small pang of admiration — whatever you judged them on, style, presence, or sheer looks, all three were remarkably striking, hard not to be a little dazzled.
Once the three had taken their seats, Diantha noticed that the young man seemed to have caught her glance too, offering her a smiling nod.
Diantha returned it with a warm, gracious smile of her own.
Such a polite young man. But why does he feel strangely familiar?
A handsome young man, black hair, black clothes.
Diantha found herself lost in thought, feeling like she'd seen him somewhere before, but unable to place exactly where.
Probably not in person — otherwise she was certain she'd have remembered clearly, given how distinctive and memorable this young man's presence was.
Must've been from a newspaper, a video, or something along those lines, Diantha reasoned, racking her memory.
But right then—
"Miss Diantha."
Lysandre's rich, mature voice cut through her train of thought.
Diantha's fine brows knitted slightly — she'd felt like she was on the verge of remembering, but since she wasn't alone right now, letting herself drift off like that really wasn't polite of her.
Diantha turned her attention back to Lysandre across the table. She knew him, of course — as the head of the research institute Team Flare, Lysandre was quite a well-known figure throughout Kalos.
"Miss Diantha, you once gave a flawless performance on the big screen playing a young girl. Have you ever thought about preserving your youth and beauty forever, so you could keep playing roles like that indefinitely?"
Lysandre's deep-set eyes fixed on Diantha as he asked, quietly.
"What a strange question, really..."
Diantha considered it for a moment.
"Why would I want to keep playing the same type of role forever? Youth might carry a certain kind of beauty, but it isn't the whole of a life."
"Everything changes. I want to live, and to grow through that living — so I hope that in the future, I'll get to play older roles too."
Diantha answered with a light smile.
"But weren't you chosen to become a film star precisely for that? Isn't preserving beauty exactly your responsibility?"
Lysandre lifted the teapot with his right hand, pouring more hot water into his own cup, his gaze deep and unreadable.
"All beautiful things ought to remain beautiful, forever, exactly as they are. I want this world to stay beautiful, always."
Lysandre's voice grew lower, more intense.
"I cannot tolerate a world that stops being beautiful!"
At that, Diantha stared at Lysandre in visible surprise — this man, the head of Flare's research institute, sitting right in front of her.
Something about what he'd just said... felt off.
Diantha's brow furrowed slightly.
Lysandre, though, seemed entirely unbothered — he didn't much care whether Diantha picked up on anything from what he'd just said, since he had contingencies in place within the Kalos League regardless. No need to worry too much about it.
He genuinely did admire Diantha — not for her status as Champion, but for her identity as an actress. In Lysandre's eyes, Diantha had used her extraordinary acting talent to move people, essentially dedicating her life to bringing others joy.
If everyone in the world could be like Diantha, wouldn't the world become so much more beautiful?
"Oh — Serena."
Just then, Lysandre's eye caught a familiar figure out of the corner of his vision.
Mammon looked over immediately too — a strikingly beautiful, radiant young girl.
She wore a black, sleeveless fitted top that traced the elegant curve of her upper body, paired with a red-striped, high-waisted skirt cinched at her slender waist. Black thigh-high socks ran up her still-shapely legs, meeting the red hem of her skirt to create a striking absolute-territory effect. Her flaxen-blonde hair fell loose, a pink hat perched on her head with a pair of sunglasses resting on its brim.
An exceptionally stylish, gorgeous young lady.
The corner of Mammon's mouth curled up slightly — because this was none other than Generation VI's own female protagonist, Serena!
"Mr. Lysandre, Miss Diantha."
Serena walked up to Lysandre and Diantha's table and greeted the two of them.
"Ah, seems you already know Miss Diantha, so there's no need for me to make introductions. My company has some matters I need to attend to, so please excuse me for taking my leave first."
Lysandre offered a polite, smiling farewell.
"Mr. Lysandre seems quite busy," Serena remarked, watching his retreating back — though it wasn't especially surprising, given that Lysandre ran a whole research institute.
Serena was about to take a seat, but as she turned, her bag brushed lightly against Mammon's arm.
Serena noticed immediately.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, did I hurt you at all, sir?"
Serena hurried to bow apologetically to Mammon.
"It's fine, you didn't mean it," Mammon said with a smile, waving it off as no big deal.
"I really am sorry — let me buy your coffees, all of you, as an apology."
Ever conscientious, Serena still felt genuinely bad about it.
"Please don't say no — it's the least I can do."
"Well, if you insist, then thank you, miss. Let's introduce ourselves properly — I'm Mammon, from the Kanto region."
Mammon chuckled softly, rising to his feet and extending a hand in introduction to the earnest young girl.
But Diantha, who'd been watching Serena with a warm, motherly sort of smile up until that point, suddenly froze, staring at the black-haired young man in shock.
Mammon? Mammon, from Kanto?
Isn't that — isn't that literally Team Rocket's Mammon?!
No wonder this young man had struck her as vaguely familiar — she'd heard Looker mention this cross-region criminal organization back at the League headquarters. And just a few months ago, hadn't the Hoenn region reached out to Kalos for help dealing with them?
Diantha broke out in a cold sweat.
(End of chapter)
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