Chapter 101: So This Is Team Rocket? A Little Extreme, Don't You Think
"What is this?"
Kagura turned the gold badge over in her fingers, examining it — and caught the change in Caitlin's expression. The easy grin on her face dimmed slightly.
"Your rank." Mammon took a leisurely sip of juice. "Accept it, and your position in the organization answers only to me and the Boss. Four Generals, Three Beast Knights, Three Admins, every other senior executive — none of them outrank you. And once I take the Boss position formally, you'll be second only to me across the entire organization. How does that sound?"
He watched her.
"Caitlin hasn't received this badge yet — her team isn't fully at Champion-tier. You would be the first top-rank executive I've personally invited into the organization."
The private room went quiet.
Courtney stared at Kagura. She wasn't slow — her years as a scientist had left her with a sharp, analytical mind. And what Mammon was offering was far beyond generous.
Which meant only one thing. Kagura was not an ordinary person.
Caitlin studied Kagura with careful attention. Is this woman actually Champion-tier?
The bright grin had faded completely from Kagura's face. Her expression had gone thoughtful — closed.
"No thank you."
She set the gold badge on the table without a second glance.
She'd joined Team Magma with a specific purpose — to use the organization as a tool, nothing more. She'd never had any interest in becoming a genuine member of a criminal organization.
"Why are you offering this to me?"
Something had shifted in Kagura's eyes when she asked. The warmth was gone. What replaced it was raw and predatory — the look of something that had spent a long time in the wild.
"Simple. Because you're strong." Mammon set down his teacup without hurry.
"Which is exactly why I call Team Magma worthless. This world is larger than most people understand, and there are mysteries already operating in it — right here, right on your doorstep. And Team Magma has been sitting next to one without the faintest idea, chasing a dream that was never going to come true."
He said it with a particular edge of mockery.
Courtney bit her lip, her gaze sharp on Kagura.
This person—
Kagura didn't acknowledge her.
"The Meteor Falls Clan — nearly three thousand years of unbroken succession. The oldest living cultural lineage in the world." Mammon said it conversationally, as if reading from a fact sheet. "And you, Kagura — as this generation's Lorekeeper — I'd say you're more than qualified for this badge."
Courtney's breath caught.
Kagura's real identity, laid out in the open.
The Lorekeeper. The current inheritor of the Meteor Falls Clan's traditions. A Dragon-type trainer at Champion-tier.
In the game's storyline, Kagura had planned to summon Rayquaza at the Sky Pillar to deal with the meteorite crisis described in the Clan's prophecy. She'd succeeded in summoning it — but Rayquaza had rejected her, choosing May instead. After May caught Rayquaza, Kagura had challenged her to a Succession Battle, lost, and passed the Lorekeeper title to May to resolve the crisis.
Her strength was not in question. Champion-tier, and a strong specimen within that tier — by the point of the Rayquaza arc in the games, May had already defeated Champion Steven and taken the title. She'd also caught Rayquaza. And yet in Pokémon: Evolutions, Kagura's Mega Salamence had held its own against May's Rayquaza for a sustained exchange.
"How do you know that?" Kagura's voice had gone to something cold and animal.
"That part doesn't matter. What matters is that we don't have conflicting interests. Whatever you're trying to accomplish — the organization can help you get there faster."
Mammon smiled.
Kagura said nothing. She met his gaze and held it.
After a long moment, she stood and moved toward the door.
"I'll decline. I have no interest in your organization — and I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of my way."
She said it without heat, as a simple statement of fact.
She'd come to see how things played out, mostly out of curiosity. Her own strength meant she hadn't worried much about walking into danger. But now the situation had changed.
Her identity had been exposed. This person was dangerous — she could feel it — and the last thing she needed was someone like this interfering with her mission. But starting a fight with him right now?
She looked at Mammon and made her assessment. Too risky. Not yet.
"Oh? Is this about the mission you're carrying?"
Mammon's tone stayed light.
"You can set that concern aside entirely — we won't interfere with it. We might even be able to help you complete it faster."
Kagura's hand was already on the door. She didn't stop.
"Or perhaps it's something else. Something you need to do." A pause, and then, quietly: "Something in Johto — that incident at the Buried Tower?"
Kagura's body went rigid.
The Lorekeeper turned slowly. The look she directed at Mammon made the temperature in the room drop.
The atmosphere in the private dining room tightened like a drawn bowstring.
"How do you know about that."
The words came out rough and low, scraped from somewhere deep.
Caitlin and Courtney both went still. What had happened there? What could produce a reaction like that from someone like her?
"Team Rocket has a branch in Johto. The incident was buried carefully, but our people managed to acquire footage from the Johto Pokémon Association — recordings of the battle. The whole thing."
Mammon said it without any particular gentleness. He had no special sensitivity about touching other people's wounds — he hadn't been the one to cause this one.
Kagura's breathing had changed. Her hands had clenched, knuckles cracking.
The Rayquaza Capture Operation.
The catastrophe that had taken place at the Buried Tower in Johto. Kagura had not been the Clan's first Lorekeeper of this generation.
The original Lorekeeper had been Kagura's older sister — Shelly.
Carrying the weight of the Clan's prophecy, Shelly had left Meteor Falls and traveled to the Buried Tower in Johto. There she had found Rayquaza — and Rayquaza had accepted her. With a collection of Key Stones, Shelly had achieved what no Lorekeeper before her had managed: she triggered Rayquaza's Mega Evolution.
Everything had been in place. Mega Rayquaza, and the Lorekeeper who had earned its recognition — together they could have waited for the meteorite and destroyed it, the prophecy fulfilled and the crisis resolved.
Then human greed had intervened.
Funded by the Berlitz family of Sinnoh. Technical support from Devon Corporation and the Macro Cosmos Holdings Group of Hoenn. Executed by the Johto Pokémon Association.
The Rayquaza Capture Operation.
They had come to the Buried Tower. They had attempted to take Rayquaza. And when it was over — Shelly had been killed fighting to break through their lines. Rayquaza had escaped.
When Kagura arrived at the Buried Tower afterward and saw what was left, the grief had been severe enough to temporarily rob her of her voice.
She had recovered. She had claimed Shelly's Mega Anklet. She had taken Shelly's Noivern. She had taken on the mission. Kagura had become the new Lorekeeper.
"The Buried Tower — built by your Clan as a resting place for Rayquaza, a sacred structure raised in its name. And in the end it became a grave for your Clan's Lorekeeper." Mammon's tone carried a particular flavor of sardonic observation. "The irony is genuinely something."
"Stop talking."
Kagura's voice came out sharp and jagged.
Her chest was heaving.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
She forced her emotions back under control. It had been years. It still came back like this — the image of the Buried Tower, the wreckage, the aftermath — a recurring nightmare that never fully loosened its grip.
"I can help you." Mammon stood and crossed the room to where she stood, stopping just in front of her. He dropped his voice.
"Team Rocket can help you."
Kagura gave a short, cold laugh.
"Help me how? Macro Cosmos is already defunct. Are you going to take down the Berlitz family in Sinnoh for me? Dismantle Devon Corporation? Destroy the Johto Pokémon Association?"
She listed them with contempt — because she understood what they were. Team Rocket was the criminal underworld of Kanto. That was real. But was it enough for this?
Caitlin's brow furrowed slightly.
As a scion of one of Sinnoh's most prominent families herself, Caitlin knew the landscape well. The Berlitz family — Sinnoh's wealthiest dynasty, two hundred years of accumulated power, with holdings across every sector. Several family members were distinguished Pokémon researchers. She'd also heard the current Berlitz heir — a daughter — had extraordinary talent and had set out on her journey this year.
Devon Corporation didn't need much introduction. One of the most powerful corporations in the world. And Hoenn's previous Champion — Steven Stone — was the son of Devon's president, Joseph Stone.
In Hoenn, outside the League itself, Devon was the unchallenged heavyweight.
As for the Johto Pokémon Association — less impressive on the surface, but it operated under the Kanto-Johto League's authority. The Association managed trainers and Gyms across Johto, and with Kanto and Johto still operating as a unified League, provoking the Johto Association was, functionally, provoking the Kanto League itself.
There had been ongoing discussion about separating the two regions — the combined territory was simply too large for unified administration. If Johto ever became its own League, the Association would become the Johto League overnight.
Which meant the Johto Pokémon Association was, arguably, the most dangerous of the three enemies to touch. Attacking it meant picking a fight with the Kanto League.
Kagura's enemy list, Caitlin thought, is remarkably distinguished.
"All of it."
Mammon answered without hesitation.
Kagura blinked.
"What did you say?"
"All of it. Is there a problem?"
He raised an eyebrow as if the question were faintly puzzling.
"..."
"The Berlitz family, Devon Corporation, the Johto Pokémon Association — yes, they're inconvenient. But with both of us working together, none of them are a particularly difficult problem."
He added this as a casual afterthought.
"You—" Kagura stared at him.
He said it like it was nothing. Like he was describing weekend plans.
"Aren't you afraid of the Pokémon League coming after you?"
"I'm Team Rocket." Mammon sounded genuinely amused. "You're asking me whether I'm afraid of the Pokémon League?"
Kagura had no immediate response to this.
"So. Kagura." The smile widened. "I'm being completely sincere here. Join Team Rocket, and I'll go to Rustboro City with you today — right now — and we can blow up Devon Corporation's headquarters together. How does that sound?"
"Or, if you'd prefer, we can take a trip to Sinnoh or Johto and level the Berlitz estate and the Pokémon Association building."
Kagura stood in silence.
She listened to this person outline acts of large-scale destruction in the same calm, unhurried voice one might use to suggest a restaurant.
And she arrived, reluctantly and sincerely, at a conclusion:
This man might be a little too extreme.
...Is this what Team Rocket is actually like?
☆☆☆
-> 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