Chapter 127: Mammon: I've Surpassed You, Giovanni!
Mewtwo.
"Watch yourselves — this Mewtwo is extraordinarily powerful. This is Mammon's ace."
Steven's expression was as serious as it got. He knew exactly what this meant. Everything that came before — Mega Tyranitar — was at best one of Mammon's core fighters.
"His ace."
Cynthia's brow creased. She recalled Garchomp, still barely holding on but running on fumes. Garchomp had already taken too much.
The Mega Tyranitar they'd just fought, that monstrous thing — and it wasn't even Mammon's ace.
"Mammon." Giovanni recalled his badly wounded Nidoking and sent out a Nidoqueen.
"Round two, then." Mammon tilted his head. Every word dripped with casual provocation. "Ready?"
"Baxcalibur — Dragon Claw!"
Nemona didn't hesitate as Mega Salamence came screaming down trailing sheets of flame.
Baxcalibur's claws blazed sharp blue-green, slashing upward to tear through the incoming Flamethrower.
But Mega Salamence's Flamethrower was too much. In a single explosive crack of fire, Dragon Claw detonated on contact.
The blast wave erupted outward and hurled Baxcalibur off its feet.
"Ugh — this isn't working!"
Nemona's jaw was tight, forehead deeply creased. Baxcalibur had the type advantage — Ice-type was four-times effective against Salamence's Dragon and Flying.
The problem was that Mega Salamence had absolute air superiority, and its Special Attack was enormous.
Baxcalibur couldn't fly. That single fact had turned the entire matchup into a disaster. Mega Salamence could sit in the sky and spam Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse at will while Baxcalibur scrambled across the ground beneath it.
Complete fire suppression. Baxcalibur couldn't even get its head up.
Nemona glanced over at Shujiro. His Regirock—
What she saw made her eyes go wide.
Regirock was getting dominated by Kagura's Tyrantrum. This was a Rock-type mirror matchup — how was a legendary Giant losing to a Tyrantrum?
Nemona was genuinely stunned.
"Pff — you two really aren't much, are you." Kagura glanced between Nemona and Shujiro with a wide smirk, then looked over toward Mammon's field. "Getting full of yourself in battle is how you walk into a loss, by the way."
Nemona threw her second Poké Ball. A black-and-white bird burst free with a beat of wings.
Flying and Dark — Mandibuzz.
"Oh?" Kagura glanced at it. The corner of her mouth climbed higher. "That's still not going to beat my Mega Salamence."
"Don't be so sure!"
Nemona wasn't backing down. She refused to believe she couldn't get past a single Mega Salamence.
She had her own pride.
"I already told you — you can't. You just can't."
Kagura said it flatly, watching the young Champion from Paldea.
"You think battles are decided by headcount? Sure, you outnumber us. So what?"
She lifted her chin, completely unhurried.
"Steven and the others won't beat Mammon. You and Shujiro won't beat me." She paused, then nodded toward Wallace and Caitlin's field with a slight smile. "And as for Wallace — why don't you take a look for yourself?"
Nemona blinked. She looked.
Her jaw dropped.
The elegant former Hoenn Champion was suspended in the air, wrapped in some invisible psychic force, wearing the expression of a man who was both extremely annoyed and completely powerless to do anything about it.
Wallace had been captured. Already.
How long had this battle even been going on?
She'd barely started her own probing phase. She was just gearing up for round two. And Wallace was already — gift-wrapped.
Wallace caught Nemona's stare. His handsome face lit up with immediate hope.
"Champion Nemona! Help me!!"
He called out without a shred of hesitation, appealing to this junior from Paldea with everything he had.
He hadn't wanted this. But how was he supposed to know Caitlin was this strong?
The moment Caitlin's psychic amplification went up and Tapu Lele opened the Psychic Terrain, Mega Metagross and Tapu Lele had hit his team like a runaway freight train. His Milotic and Politoed got hammered one after the other in what felt like no time at all. Then Metagross had grabbed him.
He was devastated. He'd truly given everything he had. He just couldn't win. What was he supposed to do? He was in genuine despair.
He'd considered calling to Steven — but Steven's fight was clearly brutal, and he couldn't bring himself to be that kind of distraction.
Also, admittedly. He'd just said "you can always count on me."
Nemona: "..."
Hearing Wallace appeal to her for rescue, Nemona genuinely almost lost it.
Caitlin walked toward Kagura with unhurried grace. Mega Metagross drifted behind her to the left; Tapu Lele floated to her right. Behind them, Wallace drifted along in midair.
"Do you need help?"
"No — actually, fine, come on. Let's wrap these two up quickly."
Kagura had started to refuse — she was confident she could handle Nemona and Shujiro herself. But with Caitlin working alongside her, they'd save time. That was reasonable.
"Of course." Caitlin gave a small nod. "I'll take the girl. You handle Shujiro."
Kagura redirected Mega Salamence toward Shujiro's Regirock. Regirock's offensive capacity was limited — its movement speed was just too slow. But its physical defense was so high that even Tyrantrum could barely dent it.
Mega Salamence changed that entirely. Its Special Attack was devastating, and it had Hydro Pump.
Shujiro immediately threw a second Poké Ball. Registeel emerged in a flash of white — the Steel-type Giant, another legendary Shujiro had recently caught.
"Caitlin — she specializes in Psychic-types? Sinnoh noble family?" Nemona looked at the young woman in the white and pale-pink fitted dress, and her eyes involuntarily brightened.
She was gorgeous.
Nemona herself was from a wealthy family — her father had founded the company behind the Rotom Phone. She had an older sister being groomed to take over the family business, which meant Nemona was free to pursue her own interests however she pleased, which was how she'd become a Trainer.
"Thank you for the kind words. A pleasure." Caitlin gave a graceful curtsy.
"But I won't be going easy on you — I'm Paldea's reigning Champion, for the record!"
Nemona's eyes lit up further. She forced the excitement down. Criminal organization. Must win.
"That is my intention as well." The faintest upturn at the corner of Caitlin's lips. Tapu Lele and Mega Metagross drifted forward.
Caitlin released Wallace — then immediately had him caught again in Gothitelle's psychic grip before he could hit the ground.
Wallace looked around at his teammates all fighting hard, looked at himself — caught for the second time.
Wallace: (°°)
"Lucario — Extreme Speed!"
"Aurorus — Stone Edge!"
Cynthia and Steven moved simultaneously.
Lucario's white afterimage exploded behind it and it was gone — rocketing toward Armored Mewtwo at a speed the eye couldn't follow.
Aurorus condensed a volley of jagged rocks at the same moment.
Giovanni held position, ready to cover at any instant.
"It won't work."
Armored Mewtwo's deep violet eyes tracked Lucario's trajectory without effort.
Lucario reached Mewtwo's left flank, cut hard, and slammed into it.
Armored Mewtwo raised one hand. A deep violet psychic barrier snapped into existence.
CRACK.
Lucario hit the barrier at full speed. An instant later it cried out in pain and was hurled backward — faster than it had come in.
"Lucario!" Cynthia's expression changed.
How? That barrier alone—?
"Psychic."
Lucario hadn't hit the ground yet. Its tumbling body was seized by psychic force and redirected — flying back the way it came.
"Wait — Aurorus, hold—!"
Steven understood immediately. He shouted — but Stone Edge was already in the air.
The rocks screamed toward Armored Mewtwo. Lucario, dragged back by Psychic, arrived directly in the way.
Every Stone Edge hit Lucario.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The rocks detonated across Lucario's body. Fortunately Lucario had four-times resistance to Rock, so even with its modest physical defense, the damage wasn't critical.
But was that a good thing?
Armored Mewtwo noticed Lucario was still standing. Its expression didn't change. It raised one hand and swept it gently to the side.
An immense, formless wave of psychic power rolled out.
It hit Lucario directly.
Lucario's pained cry was brief. Its body was simply blasted away and hit the ground, and didn't get up.
Lucario was out of the fight.
And the battle had barely started.
Cynthia looked at Lucario on the ground and wasn't entirely sure what she felt.
Lucario wasn't her ace — that was Garchomp — but it was a core member of her team.
"It's strong." A feeling of helplessness rose in Steven's chest involuntarily.
"You see it now. With the strength you have here — you cannot win."
Mammon said it quietly.
"Mammon. The battle isn't over." Giovanni's voice was low.
"True. You'll keep fighting. But it won't mean anything. Not against me, as I am now."
His tone was still completely level. Undisturbed.
But that undisturbed calm carried something in it — a ferocious, unself-conscious arrogance.
"Are you proud of yourself?! Mammon, with power like this — you're using it for Team Rocket! Do you hear yourself?!"
Steven's voice cracked with something he couldn't fully control.
"And?" Mammon's gaze moved across the three of them and settled on Giovanni.
"Strength. Belonging. Something to reach for. I had none of it, once. I was just a ghost living in the shadow of a name — Giovanni's son. But not anymore."
His voice began to rise.
"After I joined Team Rocket — I got Mewtwo. I caught the legendary Tapu Fini and Suicune."
"Even you — regional Champions — you're nothing to me!"
"I have surpassed you, Giovanni!"
Steven's breath caught. Cynthia's expression went heavy.
They were both looking at the same thing: a young man whose voice, for the first time, rang with something raw and unguarded.
"…Surpassed me."
Giovanni — just slightly — had stopped keeping his composure. Something in his eyes was no longer entirely steady.
Steven and Cynthia were too shaken to notice.
"Yes! Sinnoh Champion, Hoenn Champion, Kanto's strongest Gym Leader — none of you are my match!!"
Mammon's head came up.
"This is my true power! This is where I belong! This is what I'm fighting for!"
His voice rang out across the broken ground and kept ringing.
"This is who Mammon really is! This — is all of me!"
☆☆☆
-> 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