Chapter 272: You Belong to Team Rocket Now — Which Means Everything You Have Belongs to Team Rocket
"Now that's a genuinely solid haul."
Mammon looked at the Ultra Ball in his hand, unable to hold back a smile. Right — that Ultra Ball contained Regigigas itself. Given how enormous Regigigas was, having it walk all the way from Sinnoh to the Tree of Beginning back in Kanto on its own would've taken forever — far faster to use the teleportation network instead. Sure, Regigigas hadn't technically agreed to become Mammon's Pokémon outright, but getting caught in the ball counted as a done deal in its own way, regardless.
Mammon glanced once more at the devastated landscape, then shook his head, signaling Reshiram to move on. A resonant dragon's cry rang out as Reshiram touched down in front of Caitlin and Cynthia.
"All handled," Mammon said, holding up the freshly rinsed wooden box, smiling at the two of them.
"Thank you," Cynthia said, letting out a breath of relief.
"Mammon, what's that?" Caitlin asked, eyeing the box in his hand curiously.
"Some water dragon's extremely precious treasure. No idea how it ended up in Regigigas's hands, honestly — but since it's moving out, it gave this to me as a parting gift," Mammon said, smiling. A genuinely unexpected windfall, this.
And what lay inside the box was, in fact, the key treasure of the space dragon Palkia — the Lustrous Orb!
The "Mythical Pokémon" trio each carried two associated treasures — an Adamant/Lustrous/Griseous Orb, and a corresponding Adamant/Lustrous/Griseous Orb variant treated as a larger, more powerful item. For Palkia, that meant the Lustrous Orb and the Lustrous Globe.
The Lustrous Orb could technically be considered similar in function to the Rainbow Wing or Silver Wing — it could be used to summon Palkia at Spear Pillar. And per in-game mechanics, when held by Palkia, the Lustrous Orb boosted the power of its Dragon- and Water-type moves by twenty percent — essentially a treasure exclusive to Palkia itself.
But the Lustrous Globe was far more significant. In-game, the Globe didn't have any summoning function, but it shared the same twenty percent power boost to Palkia's Dragon- and Water-type moves. Its most important ability, though, was enabling Palkia's Origin Forme! And that was the real key here — as everyone knew, the Origin Forme represented Palkia's true form, the only state in which it could unleash its genuine full power. Functionally similar to Groudon and Kyogre's Primal Reversion, honestly.
Worth noting, though: in-game, neither Dialga's nor Palkia's Origin Forme actually boosts their base stat total — it merely redistributes the existing stats differently. But anyone who actually understood the mechanics knew base stat totals never told the whole story. Arceus's own base stat total sat at only 720, and that didn't stop it from being the God of Creation itself — even a mere fragment of it stood unrivaled across the entire world. Reality and game mechanics simply weren't the same thing, and there was no question that once Origin Forme activated, Palkia's actual combat strength would surge dramatically.
"With this, I'll have something to trade with Palkia down the line."
Mammon tucked the box safely into his bag, nodding, satisfied. Sure, the Lustrous Globe held no direct use for him personally, but it made for excellent future leverage in dealing with Palkia — say, getting Palkia to serve as muscle for him, or lend a hand with something. After all, a Pokémon that commanded the power of space itself had no shortage of practical applications.
"Some water dragon?" Caitlin tilted her head, puzzled — she had no idea who Mammon meant, though clearly some legendary Pokémon.
"But why is it always some important treasure like this? Why do all these legendary Pokémon keep losing their own precious items?" Caitlin wondered, genuinely confused — it seemed to happen every single time. Groudon and Kyogre's Orbs, Kyurem's DNA Splicers — all critically important items, even tied directly to their combat states — and yet all of them kept turning up lost somewhere. And now this Lustrous Globe, same story.
"Who knows? Over that many centuries, anything could happen. Or maybe it got knocked loose in a fight somewhere," Mammon shrugged. How would he know the specifics?
Maybe it really had just gotten misplaced somewhere over an unfathomably long stretch of time — though Mammon suspected it was more likely the time-and-space siblings themselves had accidentally knocked the Globe loose while brawling with each other. Yeah — sure, Dialga and Palkia were technically "brother and sister," but the two of them absolutely could not stand each other. Whenever their paths crossed, it turned into an all-out brawl without a moment's hesitation — canon backed this up more than once. Barring exceptional circumstances, those two siblings genuinely seemed to want to knock each other's brains out.
Worth noting, too: apparently in a straight one-on-one, Palkia loses to Dialga — not too surprising, really, a water dragon losing to a steel dragon tracks well enough. But no matter! Water dragon! Want a boost? Sell you the Lustrous Globe, and you can go take a dump on Dialga's head afterward!
"Looks like you've recovered well enough. So — you understand the situation now, I take it?" Mammon looked down at Poacher J, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Do I have another choice?" J's voice still came out weak, though she was noticeably improved by now — at least able to speak clearly.
"I have plenty of money." J was still trying to negotiate for her own freedom, however she could. Whatever angle she looked at it from, Mammon didn't strike her as a good person. But she also understood full well — someone capable of resolving a rampaging Regigigas this quickly wasn't someone she could resist. And judging by Cynthia's own deference, this "Mammon" clearly wasn't anyone simple either.
"You're mistaken about one thing," Mammon said, raising an eyebrow. "You belong to Team Rocket now. Which means everything registered under your name belongs to Team Rocket too. And Team Rocket belongs to me. So you're trying to use my own money to negotiate with me?"
Mammon couldn't help but laugh.
Hearing that, J was genuinely stunned. Sinnoh's people had always called her, Poacher J, a thoroughly villainous criminal — but compared to the young man standing in front of her right now, she felt practically like a saint in comparison.
Cynthia stayed quiet too.
"Of course, I'm a fundamentally kind person. If you don't want to join the organization, you're free to refuse," Mammon said, indicating he wouldn't force the issue.
J's expression flickered uncertainly. Refuse? With what leverage could she possibly refuse? J valued her own life too much for that — staying alive kept every option open. Otherwise, who knew what Mammon might do to her? Her entire operation could get stripped bare, and she along with it, with no guarantee she'd even survive the process.
"I understand," J said, lowering her once-proud head.
"A wise choice — you've still got some sense in you. You should count yourself lucky, running into me today," Mammon said, nodding evenly. "Because even without today's events, things wouldn't have gone well for you regardless — our organization was going to clean out the whole poaching network eventually anyway. And compared to poaching, isn't being an executive at Team Rocket a much better deal? Better prospects, too," Mammon added, mocking.
J said nothing to that. She'd once run her own operation as top dog — now she found herself living under someone else's thumb, stripped of the fortune she'd fought so hard to build. How was she supposed to feel good about any of this?
"I'll have Gladion take you to gather up your old subordinates in a bit. He'll fill you in on what needs doing." Even with J no longer in immediate danger, her body was still weakened, so there wasn't much risk of her trying anything. Mammon figured if she really tried to cause trouble anyway, that would just be her own stupidity — he'd already given her one chance.
"Understood," J acknowledged.
Mammon then contacted Gladion.
"Gladion, bring a squad out to Snowpoint City. Yeah, come yourself in person," Mammon said — an ordinary executive wouldn't be enough to keep J properly in line.
"Understood, Lord Mammon. The temp workers have already begun their operation — going smoothly so far, this poacher base should be wrapped up shortly," Gladion reported. Genuinely, he found himself impressed by the raw fighting strength of these temp workers — absurdly strong, especially the ones leading the charge. If Rocket's own people had tried clearing this base themselves, they'd probably have taken some real losses in the process. But these temp workers were operating on an entirely different level.
Gladion genuinely admired Mammon for this — just spend a bit of money, leverage the merit-point system, and these powerful temp workers threw themselves into the work with almost feverish enthusiasm on his behalf. And the best part: these temp workers had spotless records. Even if the League caught them, at worst they'd get a stern talking-to. The temp workers weren't naive either — they'd all signed contracts, and they'd never breathe a word about the company's actual business. Deny everything, insist they were just cleaning up trouble for the public good! And the League genuinely had no real recourse against them for it — because, well, they genuinely were doing good, weren't they? Evil organizations, poaching syndicates — which of those wasn't a regional cancer worth removing?
"Good. Once this base is cleared, hand off the rest of the tougher poaching bases to them too," Mammon said. "And speed up the interrogation of Jupiter and Saturn — locate Team Galactic's headquarters as fast as possible. If we can get them to join the organization, all the better."
Mammon mulled it over, giving Gladion his instructions. Sure, they'd kept Nora, Dulse, and the rest in Sinnoh for now under the guise of a company-funded vacation, but this wasn't Unova — they'd have to head back home in a few days, and making a return trip afterward would just be an extra hassle.
"Understood." Gladion nodded.
Hanging up the call, Cynthia thought it over for a moment before speaking up.
"Those temp workers — all students from Unova?"
"Not entirely. Some are trainers currently on their own journeys — kids with real drive, genuine potential," Mammon said, not bothering to hide it. Cynthia already knew the full picture, after all.
Cynthia said nothing. She could only think, privately, that Unova's entire next generation was practically getting strip-mined by Mammon at this point. Not content with plundering an entire region's legendary Pokémon, now he wouldn't even leave the younger generation of trainers alone. Is this man even human? If Alder heard about any of this, he'd probably burst into tears on the spot.
"Let's go — head back to Snowpoint City and find a café to rest at for now." Mammon recalled Reshiram — this place was cold and lifeless, nothing worth sticking around for. And he still needed to teleport Regigigas over to the Tree of Beginning back in Kanto; Team Rocket had guards permanently stationed around the Tree's perimeter, which made things convenient.
"Mm. So where are you headed next?" Cynthia asked, curious how Mammon planned to proceed — waiting for his people to locate Team Galactic's headquarters?
"Heading to Michina Town. There's something I need to get to the bottom of." Mammon's eyes flickered slightly. He needed to understand the situation with the Michina ruins — or rather, understand the situation with Arceus itself. This mattered a great deal.
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