Chapter 12: Team Rocket Has Come to Pay a Visit
"Would you mind letting your boss Guzma know that Team Rocket from Kanto is here for a visit?"
Mammon smiled pleasantly at the two Skull grunts. He looked like the most harmless kid in the world.
"You…"
The skinny grunt stared at them, equal parts terrified and furious.
Sure, Team Skull regularly trashed things and stole people's Pokémon — but snapping someone's arm on sight? That was a different league entirely.
"Didn't you hear what the Young Master said? Do I need to ask you more politely?" Lance's voice was frigid.
One look at the walking nightmare that was Lance, and the skinny grunt flinched. He scrambled to prop up his partner and the two of them hobbled into the mansion as fast as they could.
"Mammon — are you planning to absorb Team Skull?" Caitlin seemed to grasp his intent.
Otherwise, why not just storm in?
"That's right. Most of them are thugs, but with a little retraining, they're still usable." Mammon smiled.
"We just got to Alola and we're shorthanded. Rolling Team Skull into our ranks fills a lot of gaps right away."
"And if they refuse?" Caitlin tilted her head.
In her estimation, bringing this rabble into the fold wouldn't be easy — and the quality was… concerning. Recruit all of them and it might actually drag down Team Rocket's standards.
"That won't be up to them."
Mammon bared his teeth in a grin and walked toward the mansion.
"Let's go. It's about time."
Inside the mansion.
"BIG SIS!!"
The front doors burst open and a howling, tearful wail echoed through the hall.
Two figures — one fat, one thin — stumbled in looking thoroughly roughed up, nearly tripping over each other in their rush.
A woman with heavy dark eyeshadow and an impassive expression looked up. Her brow creased instantly.
"What happened?"
The one they called "Big Sis" was Plumeria — Team Skull's sole Admin.
Guzma generally couldn't be bothered with day-to-day management, so in practice, Plumeria ran the show. The grunts adored her for it.
"Big Sis, my arm… they broke my arm!"
The heavy grunt was sobbing, still twitching from the pain.
"Who did this?!"
Plumeria's expression went ice-cold. She was fiercely protective of her people — nobody touched her crew.
"They said they're from some Team Rocket in Kanto! Big Sis, you gotta get payback for me!"
The grunt's face was deathly pale as he pleaded with the woman he believed could handle anything.
Plumeria's brow furrowed, her expression shifting. Team Rocket? From Kanto?
Kanto wasn't like Alola, which didn't even have a League. Kanto was where the Pokémon League was headquartered.
Any criminal organization that could thrive right under the League's nose had to be the real deal.
But wasn't Team Rocket strictly a Kanto operation? When did they show up in Alola?
"Go get that treated. You two — take him to a hospital." Plumeria addressed two nearby grunts.
"Yes, Big Sis!"
They scrambled to get the injured grunt to the back.
CRASH!
At that exact moment, the mansion's front doors were blown clean off their hinges. Several Pokémon — Alolan Raticate, Salandit, and others — tumbled through the wreckage.
Plumeria's eyes sharpened.
"Big Sis!"
"Damn it! Big Sis, someone's raiding us!"
"Big Sis, we can't hold them!"
Three battered Skull grunts came scrambling in, looking to Plumeria with desperate, pleading faces.
Plumeria's chest heaved. She stared at the shattered remains of the front door, fury building inside her like a bonfire.
"Come on, now — we told them we were here for a friendly visit, and they just had to start swinging."
A casual, lilting voice drifted in. Plumeria looked toward the entrance as several figures stepped through.
The one who'd spoken was the boy in front.
"Sorry about that. Seems Lance got a little overzealous — took your door clean off."
The boy surveyed the room, then let his gaze settle on Plumeria. His words said "sorry."
His tone said he couldn't possibly care less.
The sheer arrogance—
"For people who came to 'visit,' you don't seem to have much respect for Team Skull." Plumeria forced her anger down, her voice low and sharp.
"Don't misunderstand — we have the utmost respect for everyone in Team Skull. And don't worry, we'll cover the repairs on the door and the medical bills."
Mammon was all smiles, his tone light and breezy.
Plumeria stared at him in cold silence.
One of the Rocket grunts, reading the room perfectly, quickly grabbed a chair from a corner, wiped it down, and set it behind Mammon.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Mammon, from Kanto's Team Rocket. We came all this way to pay your fine organization a personal visit."
Mammon sat down, crossed his legs, and looked perfectly at home — completely unbothered by the wall of hostile glares surrounding him.
Lance swept the room with an icy gaze. Caitlin stood with her hands folded before her, her elegant posture and pink-and-white dress absurdly out of place in the grimy surroundings.
Not that Caitlin minded. She found this whole evil-organization negotiation business rather fascinating.
"Is this how you conduct a visit?"
Plumeria's expression was dark. From the moment this kid had walked in, he'd carried himself like he owned the place. A visit?
He'd injured one of her people and destroyed their front door!
"Just saying hello, that's all. Like I said, we'll compensate you. Don't let it get to you."
Mammon waved it off, gesturing for Plumeria to let it go.
Easy for YOU to say — it's OUR door you smashed!
Plumeria actually laughed from sheer disbelief. The grunts around her were seething.
"We came here with genuine sincerity, ma'am. So — would you be so kind as to notify Mr. Guzma? I'd love to have a proper chat with him."
Mammon's words were impeccably polite — he even said "please." Such manners.
"The boss isn't at the base right now. Whatever you've got to say, you can say it to me. I make the calls around here."
Plumeria's tone was clipped. If she didn't know Team Rocket's reputation, her old temper would've had her throwing hands already.
A Kanto-based organization suddenly showing up in Alola meant trouble — that much was obvious. If she could avoid making enemies of Team Rocket, she would.
Guzma was actually upstairs, but Plumeria knew his explosive temper made him the worst possible person for this kind of conversation.
"I see. In that case, I'll get straight to the point."
Mammon raised an eyebrow.
"Team Rocket has recently begun expanding beyond Kanto. And we've taken quite a liking to Alola."
His grin widened slowly. He swept his gaze across every Skull grunt in the room, and something dark and sharp settled behind his eyes.
"But your Team Skull is a bit of an eyesore. So — how about Team Skull merges into Team Rocket?"
The boy's words rang crystal clear through every corner of the room.
Silence.
The entire ground floor went dead quiet. Plumeria's face was a mask of barely contained fury, her eyes locked on Mammon.
Even Caitlin turned to stare at him in shock.
Good lord — the audacity of this man.