Chapter 262: Boss Mammon! We Love You, Yo!
"Mammon, Mammon~!"
Spotting Mammon from a distance, Nora's eyes lit up, and she jogged straight over, practically bouncing with excitement.
"Mammon, long time no see~" Nora blinked her pretty eyes at him, looking every bit like a lively little deer.
Platinum eyed the girl with the two hair buns curiously — a Unova trainer, then? Had to admit, Nora's first impression was pure boundless energy — a sweet, innocent face paired with a strikingly curvy figure, genuinely eye-catching. Platinum couldn't help glancing at the way Nora's fitted top hugged her chest. That development is... impressive. Looked like at least a cup size bigger than her own.
"It hasn't actually been that long — half a month or so," Mammon said, unable to hold back a small smile. Had to admit, Nora's boundless energy had a way of lifting everyone's mood around her.
"Mm-hmm~ Still, I missed you a lot, Mammon," Nora said, smiling brightly, looking utterly innocent about it.
Hearing that, Touko trailing behind her couldn't help clicking her tongue. Good grief! That's WAY too direct!
"Missed me, or missed your Therian Tornadus?" Mammon chuckled — Nora had never been shy about telling him privately how much she wanted a Tornadus. Supposedly because her team lacked a Flying-type. Though Mammon suspected it might actually be because she'd once failed to catch one after losing to it in battle, leaving her with a lingering fixation on it.
"Heheh~ Both, obviously." Nora giggled.
Elesa walked over with a faint smile, offering Mammon a nod. Caitlin's brow furrowed slightly at the sight — this woman really has the nerve to show up. Still, in public like this, Caitlin merely swept Elesa with a cool glance and said nothing.
"Mister Mammon~!" Roxie's voice carried over from a distance. The Blueberry Academy crowd, led by Dulse, had arrived as well.
"Everyone, on my count," Dulse called out, throwing his arm up with real gusto.
"HELLO, BOSS!"
Dozens of voices shouted in perfect unison, loud enough to startle a few Bidoof out of hiding. Passersby in the distance turned to stare, half-convinced they'd stumbled onto some kind of rehearsal.
Pff!! These guys really knew how to put on a show. Nora clicked her tongue — the academy crowd sure knew how to hype things up, mostly just because there were so many of them.
"..." Platinum had nothing to say to that. She couldn't help wondering whether these students would still be shouting this enthusiastically if they knew their "boss" was, in fact, the leader of an evil organization. Still, she wasn't about to make trouble — Mammon had specifically warned her and Paul about that already.
"Good, plenty of energy in you all," Mammon said, mildly surprised, but genuinely pleased. Well, that's a proper entrance, isn't it?
"Though let's dial back the theatrics a bit when we're in the middle of a city — people might mistake us for a mob outfit," Mammon added, half-joking.
"So, moving on — I don't think I need to spell this part out." Mammon pointed toward the Galactic Hearthome Building. "That's one of Team Galactic's major bases. There's likely a Galactic Commander stationed inside. Your task this time: take down every Galactic member in the building, and bring in the Commander as the top prize. Pull this off successfully, and I'll cover all your food and lodging in Sinnoh for the next three days — full ride, enjoy yourselves," Mammon said, smiling.
"WHOA!!!"
"The boss is so generous!!"
"Boss! We love you, yo!"
No question, the prospect of three days of free sightseeing across Sinnoh had these young trainers thoroughly fired up. What company on Earth was this considerate to its people?
"Mammon's just so cool!" Nora felt more certain than ever — a man like Mammon was exactly the kind she deserved. Only someone like him was worthy of her!
"..." Touko rolled her eyes affectionately.
Meanwhile, inside the Galactic Hearthome Building.
A woman with dark purple hair, dressed in a black-and-silver bodysuit, was on the phone, thoroughly irritated. This was Galactic Commander Jupiter.
"Fine, I got it, I'll head over when I have time. That's it, done talking." Jupiter hung up abruptly.
"That Charon guy, seriously, something's wrong with his head — always caught up in his own little world. Does he think I've got nothing better to do?"
Jupiter grumbled, cursing under her breath. Charon was another Galactic commander, though unlike Jupiter and the other field commanders, he was a scientist. Jupiter wasn't particularly fond of him, though — something about that gloomy old man just didn't sit right with her. And instead of properly helping Cyrus work toward capturing Dialga and Palkia, Charon spent all his time obsessing over hunting down something called Sinistcha.
Sinistcha? What was that even supposed to be?
"Heh~ Let him do what he wants. If he actually manages to find Sinistcha, that's at least some contribution to the cause," Saturn said, shaking his head, blue hair swaying. He didn't particularly like Charon either, but it wasn't worth the fuss.
"Please. Guy like that finds Sinistcha, so what? Can he even catch it?" Jupiter said dismissively. Charon was just a scientist — not every researcher was as combat-capable as Colress. Charon simply didn't have that kind of ability. Even if he found Sinistcha, how exactly was he going to catch it?
"Forget about Charon. Watch yourself out there lately — Team Rocket's landed in Sinnoh. Try to avoid running into them if you can," Saturn said, expression turning serious. That was actually the reason he'd come to Hearthome City in the first place.
"That serious, huh? Even if Team Rocket's strong, this isn't Kanto," Jupiter said, frowning. She figured Saturn was making too big a deal of this — sure, Team Rocket might be genuinely powerful, but that was in Kanto, wasn't it?
"No, Jupiter — from what I understand, Team Rocket is genuinely terrifying," Saturn said gravely. "Every local dark organization across Alola, Hoenn, and Unova — once Team Rocket arrived, all of them got wiped out and absorbed entirely. Even poaching syndicates in those regions got squeezed to almost nothing." Saturn's expression was heavy. "You know what people in the industry call Team Rocket now? 'No dark organization escapes Team Rocket's reach.'"
Jupiter looked openly skeptical at that. Really, that dramatic?
"Maybe those other dark organizations were just weak. Not every organization is on our level." Jupiter wasn't taking Team Rocket's Sinnoh presence very seriously — Sinnoh was their turf, after all.
"And didn't the boss already plant an executive inside Team Rocket as a mole, way back?"
"Yeah — the boss really did see this coming. Team Rocket genuinely is dangerous," Saturn said with real feeling. "So there's no need to worry — if Team Rocket really is bold enough to come after us, I'll handle them myself."
Jupiter sounded entirely confident. If Team Rocket really wanted to pick a fight with her, she had zero problem showing them exactly what Jupiter was capable of. Team Rocket, so impressive? Aren't we impressive too? Not even the legendary Lake Guardians had been a match for the three Galactic Commanders — and Cyrus himself was a Champion-caliber trainer to boot! Even Sinnoh's own Champion Cynthia, in Jupiter's eyes, didn't measure up to Cyrus's strength.
"Jupiter, you—" Saturn felt she was being far too arrogant about this. Team Rocket managing to expand across multiple regions was absolutely not something to underestimate.
But before Saturn could finish, an urgent knock rattled the door.
"Lady Jupiter, trouble!"
After being granted entry, a Galactic grunt burst in.
"What's going on?" Jupiter, displeased, snapped at him. "Barging in like this, what's gotten into you?"
"A group's attacking the base! They're slowly fighting their way in!"
"What did you say?"
Jupiter was stunned. The Galactic Hearthome Building was one of their most critical bases, and it sat right in the heart of the city.
"Is it the Sinnoh League?" Saturn stayed reasonably composed.
"No — it's a group of young people."
Jupiter cursed under her breath, expression darkening as she rose and headed outside. So now any random stray cat or dog thinks they can come mess with Team Galactic? This base was her responsibility. If something went wrong here, how was she supposed to explain that to Cyrus — and how would Mars mock her over it, given their rivalry?
Jupiter's temper flared. She was going to give whoever dared attack her base a proper lesson.
"Not the League — then who else would attack our base?" Saturn stayed rational, but felt something was genuinely off. Aside from poaching syndicates, no other dark organization in Sinnoh should have the nerve to attack one of Team Galactic's major bases. And the poachers had no reason to pick a fight with Galactic either — which made this genuinely strange.
No — wait, there was one candidate: Team Rocket, freshly arrived in Sinnoh, clearly here to carve out territory, which naturally put them at odds with Galactic. But if it really was Team Rocket, why would they bother hiding their identity?
Saturn stayed puzzled, but got up and followed Jupiter regardless. Whatever the case, they were still colleagues in the same organization — and with someone already fighting their way inside, there was no way to just sit back and do nothing.
By now, the Galactic Hearthome Building's interior had descended into complete chaos, a huge tangle of Pokémon locked in battle throughout.
"Thrilling! This is so thrilling!"
Hydreigon unleashed a Dragon Pulse, blasting a Vespiquen clean out of the air, while Serperior struck down a Scrafty with a sharp Leaf Blade. Nora felt her own excitement climbing to a fever pitch. So exciting! No helping it — the whole place was a chaotic, high-energy battlefield of trainers and Galactic grunts clashing everywhere.
Nora glanced to her side, where Elesa was deploying a humanoid Pokémon made entirely of cables — the Ultra Beast Xurkitree! Electricity crackled across its body, and a casual Thunderbolt swept aside several nearby Galactic Pokémon at once.
"Wow, that looks really strong. Is that an Ultra Beast?"
Nora's eyes went wide — Ultra Beasts, a whole class of Pokémon with power rivaling pseudo-legendaries. She was quite fond of them herself — Pheromosa was more her taste, honestly.
"Yeah, you could redeem one too. Xurkitree's genuinely strong," Elesa said, striding over on her long legs, smiling at Nora. She'd truly come to appreciate exactly what raw power meant, ever since catching Xurkitree — its stats had actually started fairly mediocre at capture, but after two weeks of training, its strength had skyrocketed. Well, as a Gym Leader — one of Unova's most famous, at that — Elesa never lacked for challengers, so Xurkitree never lacked for battle experience either, and battling was always the fastest way to build real strength. Elesa was confident it wouldn't be long before Xurkitree overtook her Zebstrika as her ace. That's the power of an Ultra Beast!!
"I really do want one, but I don't have enough merit points," Nora said, practically wanting to chew on a handkerchief in frustration. Ultra Beasts cost a lot in redemption points, but she wanted Therian Tornadus more, so there was no way to afford both.
"Enough chatting, get moving already, or someone else is going to snag the Galactic Commander first!" Touko, having already handled a pair of Galactic grunts in front of her, urged Nora and Elesa onward.
"Right, right! Let's go!"
The Galactic Hearthome Building had four floors total — not especially tall, but each floor covered a considerable footprint. By now, all four floors had become a battlefield, the bottom three already reduced to complete disarray. The fourth floor housed only elite Galactic members — but even they were clearly outmatched against Nora, Dulse, and the rest.
Until Jupiter and Saturn finally emerged.
"So it really is a bunch of snot-nosed brats."
Jupiter's expression was thoroughly unpleasant — they'd actually made it this far in?!
But the moment Jupiter and Saturn appeared, sharp-eyed Nora spotted them immediately.
"Look over there, look! Those two must be the executives!"
"Definitely — but there's only two of them."
Nora, Platinum, Dulse, and the others exchanged glances, each catching the same eager hunger in the other's eyes. Walking piles of merit points, right there! Those two were the actual target of today's whole operation!
"I'm Blueberry Academy's champion! I'll take these two on! I can handle it!"
"Yeah, sit down. Ladies first, you know? And besides, you're all just students — this is an evil organization's executive, you don't have what it takes. Let me handle it."
"I'm a Dragon-type specialist, what do you mean I don't have what it takes?"
"Ha~ Like you're the only one with dragons around here — I've got a Hydreigon of my own too, you know."
"Ahem~ Everyone, hold on a moment — I'm the Berlitz heir, a Sinnoh native, I think it should be me who takes these two evildoers on!"
Listening to these snot-nosed brats practically come to blows over who got "ownership" of the two of them, Jupiter's expression darkened to an absolute low, her face twitching uncontrollably, until finally she couldn't help but laugh — the furious kind of laugh. Yes — turns out people really do laugh when they get angry enough. Jupiter believed it now, firsthand.
These arrogant little brats! There's a limit to how much disrespect a person can take!
Even Saturn found his brow furrowing at this — the way Nora and the rest were talking, it was like they already considered the two of them a done deal. Are kids these days really this brazen?
"Seems I've genuinely been underestimated here. Care to hear me out for a moment?"
Jupiter drew out two Poké Balls, smile thin and humorless, drawing everyone's attention at once.
"No need to keep arguing — come at me together."
She'd already made her decision. She was going to beat every last one of these obnoxious brats into serious existential doubt.
As for losing? How could she possibly lose? They were just a bunch of snot-nosed kids — barely out of diapers. She was Jupiter, Commander of Team Galactic!
I will win this.
(End of Chapter)
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