Chapter 279: Don't Tell Me Cynthia's with Team Rocket Too?
"Didn't expect you to actually recognize me."
Mammon raised an eyebrow.
"So Sham handed you my file at some point, huh." He calmly adjusted his coat, not especially surprised. Honestly, he was something of a celebrity these days — Team Rocket had already claimed the underworld across four regions, and as Rocket's boss, Mammon figured he was entitled to a bit of name recognition.
Team Rocket?
Sheena looked puzzled. Was that some kind of organization? Having spent basically her whole life at the Michina Ruins, rarely venturing outside, she clearly had no idea what Team Rocket was. Not that it worried her much — Mr. Mammon was obviously a good person! Champion Cynthia was traveling with him, after all, wasn't she?
Charon, on the other hand, felt his expression shift, his eyes flickering with unease at Mammon's words.
Sham's been exposed?
That was his first thought — some instinct in him simply refused to believe Sham could have betrayed him. Sham had been with him from the very beginning, had even gone undercover all the way in Kanto for the organization's sake. Sham would never betray him. Never.
"What have you done to Sham?"
Charon's voice dropped noticeably lower. Sham was still a genuinely valuable subordinate to him — far more so than half-formed tools like Mars.
"What do you think?" Mammon looked at him, somewhat taken aback — the man hadn't even seemed surprised?
Wait. Understanding dawned on Mammon all at once.
"Hahaha—!"
He couldn't help himself, laughter bursting out.
"What's so funny?"
The mockery dripping from that laugh sent a fresh surge of anger through Charon, his voice flat as he demanded an answer.
"Sorry, sorry — it's just that your reaction doesn't add up at all. Don't tell me you actually thought I'd rooted out Sham as some kind of mole?"
Mammon composed himself, giving Charon a broad, amused look.
"...?" Charon's brow drew tighter.
"That's not it at all. Sham came to me herself, told me exactly who she was, and pledged her loyalty to me."
Mammon's grin stretched wide, showing off a mouthful of bright white teeth — though paired with his current expression, it came across as something distinctly unsettling.
"Impossible!" The denial came almost reflexively from Charon.
"Nothing impossible about it. Compare you — a leader with a screw loose — against your sorry excuse for an organization, and anyone with real ambition knows exactly which way to jump."
Mammon's tone dripped with mockery.
"What did you say?!"
"That arrogant brat! How dare he look down on Team Galactic!"
"Unforgivable — insulting us like this!"
"And what exactly does Team Rocket have to be so proud of?!"
Mars and the assembled Galactic elites behind Charon all glared daggers at Mammon at that. A few of the hotter-tempered ones looked ready to snap.
"Nonsense," Charon said, staring coldly at Mammon.
"Trying to sow discord? How laughably transparent. Sham contacted me just yesterday—"
Charon sneered, certain now he understood exactly what Mammon was trying to do — rattle him, throw him off balance. Sham had been in touch with him just yesterday. There was no way she'd betrayed him.
Beep beep beep—
Just then, Charon's communicator went off. He answered it, and an urgent voice immediately came through.
"Boss, this is bad! We've been ambushed — a group just came out of nowhere and attacked us! Please send reinforcements, boss!"
Charon's expression flickered again. An ambush?
He looked over at Mammon and found him grinning, clearly having expected exactly this. Charon's gaze turned ice-cold. An ambush meant this whole thing had been a trap from the start!!
That damned man wasn't lying, then. Sham... did she really betray me?!
"Tch~ that's a scary look you've got there. No need to get so upset, though."
Mammon's grin only widened at the sight.
"Sham's genuinely capable, you know — a wise bird picks its tree. No need to hold it against her; abandoning a boss like you isn't exactly hard to understand."
He was thoroughly enjoying Charon's expression right now — the shift was just too entertaining. One second, all smug confidence at having supposedly seen through everything; the next, a face gone dark as death. Hilarious. Talk about a quick change of expression.
"Heh heh heh..."
Charon's laugh was hollow, forced, scraped straight out of his throat.
"A small man reveling in his petty victory. Even if this really is a trap, so what?"
His face settled back into its usual blankness, though his tone had noticeably cooled.
"Just the two of you. Do you honestly believe you're a match for me?"
Right — no need to panic. Sham had exploited his trust and stabbed him in the back, sure, but that was fine. This arrogant fool Mammon apparently hadn't set any real trap of his own — laughable. Did he actually think the two of them could stand against this many people on his side? What an idiot.
"As for that traitor Sham — I'll deal with her, sooner or later," Charon said coldly. Sham. Such a shortsighted creature. Daring to betray me — she's sealed her own fate.
"Man, I have no idea where you're getting all this confidence from." Mammon clicked his tongue, giving Charon a thorough once-over. "A glorified nobody leading a bunch of ordinary losers, and you're still walking around this proud?"
Mammon's mouth remained as vicious as ever. By now Charon and his subordinates were all visibly breathing harder. Nobody on one side, losers on the other — this man!!!
Charon found his own heart rate picking up — out of pure fury.
"I'd like to see exactly what you're capable of, to be this arrogant."
Still, Charon's discipline held — even with Mammon practically dancing on his last nerve, he managed to keep his temper in check.
"You're not even worth fighting me," Mammon said, stretching lazily. Fight Charon? He genuinely had zero interest.
Charon's aura turned colder still, and he was on the verge of ordering his Weavile to strike Mammon directly when several booming crashes suddenly erupted from behind him, freezing him mid-motion.
"Boss, there's an ambush behind us too," Mars said, her expression shifting.
"I know." A faint twitch crossed Charon's face. How could he not know? He fixed his stare on Mammon. Should he retreat now? Rationally speaking, retreat was exactly what he should do — this was a Rocket ambush, after all; who knew what other dangers were waiting?
But Charon couldn't accept it. Sham's betrayal, Mammon's mockery — his emotions were beginning to slip out of his control. This ugly resentment and rage, this was exactly the kind of thing that came from having a "heart" — and right now, Charon despised it.
And yet, undeniably, it had gotten to him.
"Boss, should we fall back?"
Mars had never seen Charon's expression this dark before, but she still worked up the nerve to suggest it.
"No rush." Charon said flatly. He released another Poké Ball, and a Garchomp appeared before him.
"I'll deal with this one first." Charon fixed his eyes on Mammon, voice heavy.
Mars pressed her lips together and sighed inwardly — but if this was Charon's decision, all she could do was follow it.
Mammon noticed the look in Charon's eyes and simply shrugged, ambling off toward Sheena and Kevin instead.
This bastard!
Charon's stare turned to ice. Even now, this arrogant?
"Weavile, Flamethro—"
Charon had just begun issuing the command to his Weavile when a pure beam of draconic light shot toward it — from a three-headed dragon.
"Flamethrower!"
Weavile whipped around, unleashing a roaring blast of flame straight into the incoming attack.
BOOM!
Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse collided violently in midair — for a brief instant they held even, before the Flamethrower began pushing forward, overpowering the Dragon Pulse. The three-headed dragon immediately banked hard, narrowly dodging the incoming flames.
"Tch~ quick reflexes on that one."
A bright, energetic girl's voice rang out. Charon turned his head to find several figures approaching — the one who'd just spoken was a girl with her hair tied into twin buns.
"So this is Team Galactic's boss, huh? Definitely looks the part, at least."
Dulse studied Charon with open curiosity.
"He's the final boss of this whole mission — a Champion-tier trainer," Touko said, still quite serious about it.
"No problem! Champion-tier or not, there's no way he's a match for us!" Mei declared, brimming with confidence.
"Mei's right — we're all named, credentialed trainers ourselves. Taking down a single Champion-tier opponent shouldn't be a problem." Dulse agreed enthusiastically, thinking Mei's line had real swagger to it.
"If we catch him, Team Galactic's basically finished as a threat."
Platinum released her Poké Ball, sending out her starter Empoleon. She'd run into Team Galactic several times already this year, and their conduct had made it abundantly clear — this was an unmistakably evil organization. Sinnoh had no need for a group like that.
"Let's stick to the plan. Everyone goes in together, and we split the merit points evenly once Charon's down."
Dulse released his Copperajah as well. Mei, Touko, Platinum, Dulse, and Wulin had all agreed on this the day before, after accepting the mission — today, they'd team up and take on the boss together.
And Charon was, without question, that boss. For a group like Mei's, none of whom had yet reached Champion tier themselves, Charon represented a real challenge — but working together properly, they figured their odds were more than good.
"I see. Just a bunch of kids, is it? That Mammon fellow..."
Charon's eyes narrowed slightly, his flat, emotionless gaze sweeping across the five of them.
"Heh... heh heh heh..."
A low laugh escaped him despite himself — pure fury turned to bitter amusement.
"How thoroughly he underestimates me. Sending nothing but children to deal with me."
"Hey, hey, hey — I'm not about to let that slide. What, looking down on us now?"
Mei was instantly indignant.
"Dealing with someone like you doesn't even require Mammon to lift a finger, thanks. Who exactly do you think you are, imagining you'd get to fight Mammon?"
"We'll take you down ourselves!"
Mei clearly knew exactly how to needle someone. And it worked — Charon had been successfully "provoked."
"Just the five of you?" Charon's expression stayed cold. A gaggle of green kids, honestly believing that numbers alone would carry the day.
Charon slowly straightened, Poké Ball at the ready in his hand, sweeping his gaze across each of the five in turn. One against five, sure — but Charon still believed the advantage was his.
"This guy's seriously full of himself," Mei muttered, unable to help herself.
"He's still the boss of an evil organization, and not weak either. Don't get overconfident," Touko warned, rolling her eyes at her.
"Relax, relax. I'm not about to get reckless."
"Then let's go, just like we planned."
Though it was their first time working together as a group, the five of them moved with surprising coordination — at least, so far.
Mammon didn't join the fight at all. He made his way over to the shrine's entrance, grabbed a chair, and stretched out on it. Shame there weren't any sunflower seeds handy.
"Mr. Mammon, you're really not going to fight?"
Sheena looked genuinely startled. She'd assumed his refusal was just talk, a way to needle Charon a little — but now he'd actually lain down!
"No need. These five are more than enough to handle Team Galactic."
Mammon shook his head, sipping pineapple juice through a straw.
"Ummm..." Sheena tilted her head — but if Mr. Mammon was this confident, it was probably fine.
"Mr. Mammon, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Charon said earlier that you're with Team Rocket. What kind of organization is that?" Sheena asked, genuinely curious. And honestly — the exchange between Mammon and Charon had left her with this odd, nagging impression, almost as if Mammon were the actual villain here... It was completely at odds with the image she'd formed of him.
"Team Rocket is a perfectly upstanding organization that's just been badly misunderstood," Mammon said with an easy laugh.
"Eh?"
"Though, from the Pokémon League's perspective, I suppose Team Rocket probably does count as an evil organization." He rubbed his chin.
"Huh?" Sheena blinked. An evil organization?
"That's right. Team Rocket's officially classified as one. Better be careful around me, Miss Sheena." Mammon teased.
Sheena covered her mouth, laughing — but she was genuinely puzzled underneath it. Mr. Mammon, a member of an evil organization? That didn't add up, though — if he really was part of one, why on earth would Cynthia be traveling alongside him?
She mulled the question over.
Don't tell me... Cynthia's with Team Rocket too? No, that couldn't possibly be right.
Mammon, of course, had no idea what thoughts were running through the young guardian's head. He was busy enjoying the spectacle of Charon fighting one against five.
It had to be said — Charon did have some genuine skill, relatively speaking. His overall strength sat firmly on the weaker end of Champion tier, and that showed clearly in the fight. None of Mei's group had reached Champion level themselves yet, true, but their skill was outstanding even by Elite Four standards — especially Mei, Touko, and Platinum.
As the fight dragged on, Charon was visibly starting to struggle, his mistakes piling up. In the end, it came down to one against five — and when the gap in raw power isn't overwhelming, sheer numbers are about the best way there is to turn the tables on a stronger opponent. Which was exactly what was happening to Charon now, sweat already soaking through his clothes.
He was already considering using his Crobat to make a run for it — otherwise, he genuinely risked being taken down by this handful of teenagers. Him — the boss of Team Galactic, brought low like this? Unthinkable.
No. I can't fall here. My ideal hasn't been realized yet!
Charon's resolve hardened.
Run.
"Something to brag about later, at least — taking on three 'protagonists' single-handed. Well, Charon, my friend, I suppose this counts as a dignified enough exit for you."
Mammon clicked his tongue, thoroughly entertained.
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