Chapter 397: Mr. Mammon, Here's a Little Something for Team Rocket
"Mr. Mammon, I think we should have a proper talk."
Hearing Rose say that, Mammon couldn't help chuckling.
"So, Mr. Mammon, would you have some time?"
"When the Chairman of the Galar League himself extends an invitation, there's no reason to refuse."
Mammon agreed, of course. If anything, Rose's invitation didn't surprise him at all.
Because Rose... nothing he did would be surprising.
After agreeing on where to meet, Mammon hung up and thought about why Rose wanted to talk.
Turning it over and over, the biggest reason was most likely that thing.
Perfect. Let's see just how much Rose is willing to put on the line.
The next day arrived.
Hulbury was a port city in eastern Galar.
It was full of shops and restaurants and always lively, and the place Rose had suggested was Hulbury's seafood restaurant, Bob's Your Uncle.
They went into the restaurant and to the private room Rose had reserved.
When they entered, Rose and Oleana were already waiting.
"Heh heh heh~ Mr. Mammon, I've heard so much about you."
Seeing Mammon and the others walk in, Rose stood and came over with a smile, offering his hand.
Rose was a man of great mature charm. He wore an expensive silver-gray suit, his black hair combed meticulously, with one lock falling across his forehead.
"You're too kind, Chairman Rose. Your name is the one that carries weight. People all over Galar sing your praises."
Mammon shook Rose's hand, sizing up the legendary Chairman of the Galar League.
"That's just everyone being generous. Come, have a seat."
Rose smiled lightly and invited them to sit.
"This restaurant serves the most authentic seafood around, caught fresh every day. Exquisite. Anyone who comes to Hulbury simply has to try it."
"I've already ordered the house specialties. Mr. Mammon, see if there's anything else you'd like. Don't be shy."
Rose's manner was very friendly and warm.
Mammon nodded. If he remembered right, Rose had invited the protagonist to this very restaurant in the game's story too.
Not that it mattered.
"You're the president of Macro Cosmos, Chairman. Being shy with you would be disrespectful." Mammon took the menu and passed it to Caitlin and the girls.
"Heh heh heh~" Rose smiled.
"Leon told me about you long ago, but meeting you in person still astonishes me, Mr. Mammon. Heroes really do come young~"
After they'd ordered, Rose rested his hands on the table and looked at Mammon in amazement.
He was so young. Mammon was only seventeen, yet his name was already known around the world, and even the Pokémon League couldn't do anything about him.
A genius like that, and he didn't belong to Galar. Rose felt quite helpless about it.
"Champion Leon? He's an outstanding Champion. But you're the one who deserves admiration, Mr. Rose, going from a Champion Cup runner-up to Chairman of the Galar League."
Mammon spoke unhurriedly, smiling at Rose.
Just as Mammon said, Rose's life was something of an epic too. Once, Rose had been an excellent trainer, finishing as runner-up in the Champion Cup.
Riding that wave, he rose to fame, gradually becoming League Chairman and the head of a conglomerate. He introduced Dynamax into Gym battles, making the Galar League famous worldwide.
Rumor had it that Rose had once worked in the mines. If that was true, his story was truly inspiring.
From a miner to Galar's respected Chairman.
"Many people have their own unique talents. They just need a bit of luck. I've always been rather lucky myself, and that's how I got where I am."
Rose said with a smile. That was why he liked sponsoring disadvantaged children: he believed everyone had their own talents.
And events had proven his choice right.
Mammon chuckled and didn't say much more. In a sense, what Rose said wasn't wrong.
After some light small talk, Rose finally got to the point.
"Mr. Mammon, I'd very much like to know: what exactly is Team Rocket's goal on your end?"
Rose's deep eyes turned to Mammon, his rich voice pleasant to the ear.
"Our goal?" Mammon raised an eyebrow.
"Chairman Rose, the Pokémon League has existed for over a hundred years now. By this point, essentially the whole world is under the League's rule."
Mammon spoke freely.
"But the League governs with leniency. That means even when people do wrong, even when they do something truly vile, they don't face any real punishment. At most, they spend some time in jail."
Rose looked thoughtful. That was true enough.
"The League believes people are inherently good. But reality has shown that Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, every one of these regions has its own darkness."
"Chairman Rose, under you and Leon, Galar really is fairly harmonious. But can you really guarantee there are no villains in Galar?"
Mammon looked at Rose.
"No. Even I can't guarantee that. The human heart is too complicated. There are even plenty of people who do wrong with good intentions."
Rose sighed. He remembered all too well what had happened in Stow-on-Side.
Bede had damaged the town's ruins trying to find Wishing Stars for him, but that was never what Rose had wanted.
"Pokémon poachers, thugs who throw their weight around. Really, the only thing Galar has over other regions is that it doesn't have any large-scale criminal organizations."
Mammon said calmly. It was genuinely hard for a large evil organization to form in Galar, because the entire region was under Rose's management.
If anything happened, word reached Rose fast, and Rose could send people to handle it.
So making a living in Galar's underworld was truly difficult.
"So, Mr. Mammon, what is it you want to do?" Rose gave no answer and asked again.
"The Team Rocket I lead has always had only one goal: purging the underworld." Mammon replied.
Purging the underworld, and then ruling it, right?
Rose understood. No wonder Kanto had never been able to come to terms with Team Rocket.
How could anyone compromise on that?
Before, criminal organizations couldn't be eradicated, but at least they were scattered and posed no great threat.
But with Team Rocket alone at the top, the scale was no joke, especially with a trainer like Mammon leading it.
Add to that powerful Champion-caliber trainers like Caitlin and Kagura.
Team Rocket was simply too great a threat.
Even if, as Mammon said, Team Rocket was only after the underworld, could that really be trusted?
What if Mammon's ambitions grew one day?
"I see." Rose considered for a moment.
"Galar has no objection to Team Rocket coming in. And Team Rocket will be protecting Galar's peace from here on. I'm truly moved."
"Mr. Mammon, this is a small token of appreciation from Galar for your organization's members. Please accept it."
Rose spoke sincerely and slid a bank card across the table toward Mammon.
"Oh?"
Mammon raised an eyebrow at the Macro Cosmos Bank card. It went without saying that whatever Rose put on it wouldn't be a small sum.
"Chairman Rose, aren't you being a bit too generous?"
"It's only right. Personally, I find what you've said quite reasonable, Mr. Mammon. The League's methods really are too soft much of the time."
"With Team Rocket lending a hand down below, everyone wins, don't they?"
Rose's smile was full of meaning.
"Exactly. You're a sensible man, Chairman Rose."
Mammon clicked his tongue and raised his glass to Rose.
"Galar is very beautiful. Mr. Mammon, you should take the time to see this land properly."
"Naturally."
The meal went very pleasantly for host and guests alike. Rose was witty and humorous, yet mature and rational, moving from topic to topic without a single awkward silence.
When the meal was over, Mammon said goodbye to Rose.
"What did you three think of Chairman Rose?"
Mammon asked Caitlin and the two girls.
"Friendly. But too friendly."
Caitlin was concise. She genuinely felt Rose had been a little too friendly.
If he thought Team Rocket was too dangerous to provoke, he could have simply stayed out of sight, like in Kalos.
But Rose had not only come in person and raised no objection to Team Rocket moving in, he'd handed over money outright, calling it a token for Team Rocket's members.
Mammon had checked: the card held a full ¥10 billion. That was no small amount.
"If you didn't know better, you'd think Chairman Rose supports Team Rocket," Platinum added, then looked at the Dynamax Band on her wrist.
But Rose supporting Team Rocket... that should be impossible. The Galar League was part of the Pokémon League, after all.
The Dynamax Bands were also gifts from Rose. With them, they could Dynamax their Pokémon wherever there was a Power Spot.
"Rose is a deep one. He doesn't want to offend either side, and he's hedging his bets." Mammon chuckled.
"That's fine, though. Expanding in Galar should go smoothly from here. And if it doesn't, we can just ask Rose to smooth things over."
Mammon thought Rose's attitude was actually quite reasonable.
For Rose, Galar itself was what mattered most. He loved this land far too deeply.
Elsewhere.
"Chairman, you're not going to ask him to deal with that matter?"
Oleana, following behind Rose, asked in confusion.
"There's no rush. This is a good start, isn't it?" Rose said with a faint smile.
"Mammon is ambitious, and he's clever. He'll understand what we mean."
"There's no need for us to get involved in the matter between the Kanto League and Team Rocket. Next, I need you to go to the Energy Plant and check Eternatus's condition again."
"Yes, sir."
Oleana nodded.
Rose looked at the sea in the distance, feeling quite helpless. Because of Mammon's sudden rise, Rose had reason to believe Leon wouldn't be too opposed to Eternatus.
But after seeing the terrifying power of Mammon's Legendaries, Rose was now more worried about whether Leon was even capable of catching Eternatus.
Rose had been so confident before because he firmly believed the undefeated Champion Leon could catch Eternatus and fulfill his dream:
that the land of Galar would never again have to worry about energy.
But the showing from Mammon's Legendary Pokémon meant Rose could no longer be completely certain of Leon's strength.
If... if I awaken Eternatus and Leon can't catch it, things will go very badly indeed.
So getting on good terms with Mammon was the best option.
As for Team Rocket moving into Galar, that had never been something he could stop. If Team Rocket wanted to control Galar's underworld, that was fine too.
Leon~
Rose sighed softly inside. He hoped Leon wouldn't disappoint him.
"Oleana, don't 'feed' Eternatus too much energy. Just make sure it stays alive."
Rose thought for a moment and added.
"Understood."
Oleana paused, then nodded.
Eternatus was a Pokémon that needed energy to survive, and without enough of it, its power would naturally suffer.
That way, they could quietly keep Eternatus's strength from getting too far out of hand.
After that, Mammon and the others spent another day sightseeing in Hulbury, then took the train to the Crown Tundra.
The Crown Tundra was the most famous wilderness area in Galar.
The Crown Tundra: a frigid land of towering, treacherous snowy mountains, where people in small villages lived by relying on one another.
"Whew~ It's getting kind of cold."
Watching the scenery outside the train gradually disappear under snow and ice, Serena's eyes filled with curiosity.
It was the most dangerous wilderness in Galar, and rumor had it that Legendary Pokémon lived deep in the Crown Tundra.
Exploring here was bound to be exciting.
"Yeah. Put on your coats in a bit so you don't freeze."
As he said it, Mammon glanced at a striking girl sitting not far off, flipping through a book. She was wearing a school-uniform skirt with black tights, and didn't seem to care one bit about the falling temperature.
She's practically superhuman~!
Mammon couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement. He'd recognized her too: Peonia.
Peony's eldest daughter, Peonia, was ridiculously cold-resistant. Who knew if she had some special constitution.
Mammon himself, blessed by Arceus, had a body completely unlike an ordinary person's and didn't feel the cold much.
The train soon pulled in, and Mammon got off with Caitlin and the two girls, now bundled in their coats.
"The snow really is beautiful."
Mammon looked around. This was the starting point of the Crown Tundra, Slippery Slope.
But Mammon's attention was soon caught by two people not far away.
"Peonia-pie~ You finally made it!"
A tall, burly middle-aged man in an orange-yellow climbing outfit came striding over to greet Peonia.
The corner of Peonia's eye twitched. She really wanted to kick her dad right in the face.
"Huh? That man..."
Platinum's attention was drawn by the commotion too. When she saw the middle-aged man's face, she froze.
Because he looked so much like Rose!
"Peony. Galar's previous Champion, and Rose's younger brother."
The corners of Mammon's mouth slowly rose as he looked at Peony and said it softly.
That's right. This bizarre middle-aged man who called Peonia "Peonia-pie" was Rose's own younger brother, Peony, the former Champion of Galar!
That's right! Rose's own brother!
But Peony and Rose were on very bad terms. The two brothers hadn't been in touch for years.
The reason Peony stopped serving as Champion was that Rose became Chairman of the Galar League, so Peony stepped down.
Of course, for Mammon, that was a good thing.
Another top-tier executive. And besides...
Mammon walked slowly toward Peony. Someone like this is perfect to recruit into the organization, isn't he?
Besides, Peony's eldest daughter, Peonia, had no particular trainer talent, but Peony's second daughter was something else.
In Scarlet and Violet, the "Team Star hacker" Penny on the protagonist's team was Peony's second daughter.
She was another girl of extraordinary talent. Not on the level of the protagonist or Nemona, but Penny was still quite strong.
As long as Peony joined Team Rocket, there was no fear of Penny slipping away.
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