Chapter 197: What Is Your Truth? The Girl Touko
Wyndon. Galar. Rose Tower, top floor.
"Going to Unova now too, is he."
Leon rubbed his temples with considerable feeling. He'd been in the middle of preparing for a trip to the Crown Tundra — word had reached him about the Three Crown Birds reportedly sighted there, plus a sealed legendary pillar somewhere in the area — when Rose had called him back to Wyndon.
"That's right. And the situation in Unova is significantly more complicated than what Hoenn was. Their own local criminal organization's leader has apparently awakened the Dragon of Ideals from the founding mythology. Team Rocket and Team Plasma are now in open conflict."
Rose's voice carried that particular quality of someone who couldn't quite believe what they were saying.
He genuinely hadn't expected this. Not even a month after Hoenn, and Rocket had already pushed into Unova — as though they were genuinely trying to plant their flag in every single region on the map.
What was especially difficult to process was that Unova's own local criminal organization was apparently this formidable.
Rose found himself quietly grateful that Galar had no criminal organizations of its own. If something like Rocket or Plasma showed up here on top of everything else, the headache would be unimaginable.
He was already stressed enough about the region's long-term energy supply.
"An evil organization with a legendary Pokémon — and they're actually holding their own against Rocket?" Leon blinked, caught off-guard.
Something about that felt unprecedented. Were all other regions just quietly doing this?
"Apparently so. Champion Alder in Unova reached out personally and asked for your help, Leon. Are you willing to go?"
Rose raised an eyebrow.
"Of course. I'll go." Leon agreed without hesitation. That was simply who he was.
"Be careful. Neither Rocket nor Plasma is going to be easy to deal with."
This time, unlike when he'd dispatched Leon to Hoenn, Rose had genuine concerns about his safety.
The world outside Galar seemed to be actively dangerous lately.
They only had one Leon. Galar couldn't afford to lose him.
"Don't worry, Chairman. I'll be mindful." Leon's smile was easy and warm.
"I've been tracking down leads on Galar's own legendaries lately, actually. I can confirm now — the legendary 'Sword' and 'Shield,' the two heroes from the old stories, they really are Pokémon."
He'd been building momentum on that front.
"My people have also found something at some ruins in the Crown Tundra. It seems like there was once a 'King' that ruled the entire Galar region in the ancient era. Also a Pokémon."
Rose shared what his team had discovered.
"Unfortunately, that's where the trail goes cold for now. We don't know where any of them are sleeping."
He exhaled. He genuinely wanted to find these legendaries for Leon's sake — if Leon could earn their recognition, a Leon who stood with them at his side would be capable of containing Eternatus on their own terms, without needing to rely on outside help. And more relevant to current events: going up against Primal Kyogre was a question of matching raw output, and the only way to do that with any dignity was to have something comparable in your corner.
"It's alright, Chairman. No need to rush." Leon's tone stayed easy.
Rocket was focused on Unova right now, not Galar. There was still time.
Icirrus City, Unova.
The "Snowflake City," they called it — for the snowflakes that seemed to float and glitter in the air above it. The winter snowscapes here were particularly famous, the kind that accumulated into deep silver blankets across the whole city.
Currently, though, it was summer. No snow.
Mammon's group had arrived here anyway.
"Finally. Let's rest here tonight and head out tomorrow."
Mammon stretched both arms overhead, rolling his shoulders. They'd been riding Pokémon the whole way from Nimbasa — convenient, but it had still been a long trip, and the sun was getting low.
The reason for Icirrus specifically was its proximity to the Dragonspiral Tower.
The Dragonspiral Tower — Unova's oldest surviving structure, built by someone at some point in history that no one could quite pin down. This was where N had awakened Zekrom and departed with it.
Mammon wanted to investigate. In the game's storyline, Zekrom and Reshiram had both been reduced to Dragon Stones a millennium ago. The Dragon Stone in Dragonspiral Tower was the one N had already taken. The other should have come from the excavation at Relic Castle — later handed to the protagonist by Alder.
But when he'd had Elesa call Professor Juniper on his behalf, Juniper had confirmed nothing unusual had ever been found in the Seven Sages Museum collection — no mysterious stones of any particular note.
Which meant either the Dragon Stone hadn't been excavated from Relic Castle after all, or it was also somewhere inside Dragonspiral Tower.
The real world and game plots diverged constantly — he'd seen enough examples of that by now. So: check the tower first, see what was actually there.
"I'll book the hotel."
Caitlin had her phone out and was already searching, shooting one cool sideways glance at Elesa, who was trailing a step behind Mammon.
The glance lingered a beat longer on Elesa's legs.
How does someone even have legs like that.
Elesa, perceptive as she was, noticed the unfriendly edge in Caitlin's attention immediately. Not much she could do about it. She had a rough idea what was behind it — but she had no actual feelings for Mammon, and if it came to any kind of direct confrontation, Elesa was fairly certain she'd be the one who came out worse. Caitlin was a Rocket executive, after all. Almost certainly not a good person to antagonize.
So Elesa noted it, said nothing, and let it pass.
"Works for me."
Mammon nodded, moving toward the city proper.
Then he stopped, because something was happening.
"Don't you dare—!"
A sharp, clear girl's voice rang out not far away. Mammon turned to look.
Three white-masked men in close-fitted dark clothing were sprinting hard, single file. Behind them, a girl was giving chase.
"The Shadow Triad."
Mammon's eyebrow lifted, recognition clicking in.
Team Plasma's enigmatic executive trio — all three of them carrying the same name, "Shadow," in the canonical Japanese original. Three masked figures who moved like ninja and owed their lives to Ghetsis. Their absolute loyalty to him was a function of exactly that debt.
The girl chasing them was considerably more interesting.
Long chestnut hair. Denim cutoffs cut high enough to show off legs that were healthy and tan. White sleeveless crop top under a black sleeveless jacket. Very much the picture of youthful energy.
Touko.
The Black/White female protagonist.
"Hey — Gym Leader Elesa! Stop them! They stole a kid's Pokémon! They're Team Plasma!"
Touko spotted Elesa, eyes lighting up, and immediately redirected toward her for backup.
Elesa clearly recognized her. She didn't hesitate — a Poké Ball opened and Zebstrika jumped out, cutting off the Triad's escape route.
The Shadow Triad pulled up short, arranging back-to-back as Zebstrika blocked ahead and Touko's Emboar pressed in behind them.
"Finally! Give back that kid's Larvesta — you took it!"
Touko arrived at a run, face flushed, pointing an accusing finger. Her voice was sharp with real indignation.
The Shadow Triad said nothing. They released their Pokémon: a Bisharp, an Accelgor, and an Absol — one per combatant, perfectly assigned.
Touko pulled out a second ball. A Braviary hit the field beside her Emboar, and she and Elesa formed a surround.
"Their strength is notable."
Caitlin studied the opposing Pokémon briefly.
"The Shadow Triad's level is genuinely solid. Unfortunate that they're Ghetsis loyalists through and through." Mammon shook his head. "Would've been worth recruiting if that weren't the case."
Their three-way coordination hit Elite-Four-tier in combined output, and their style of movement was unpredictable in a way that made them genuinely difficult to deal with cleanly.
Not recruitable, though. Not with that kind of bone-deep loyalty to a man who was increasingly on Mammon's list.
"Caitlin — go give them a hand." Mammon assessed the field.
Touko's side was fine. Her Emboar and Braviary were pressing the Accelgor and Absol steadily enough.
Elesa's side was worse. The Shadow Triad's Bisharp had her Zebstrika completely overwhelmed — one of them was already visibly hurt. If Elesa's line broke, the Triad would use the opening to run.
Caitlin nodded and released Gallade.
Elesa was already feeling the pressure, having underestimated the depth of this Plasma executive's capability. Then something came flying from the side — a white-green blur of motion, and a blade arm drove hard into the Bisharp.
Brick Break. Fighting-type.
The Bisharp yelped and went sailing, hitting the ground already out.
The Shadow Triad went rigid.
More?!
Elesa turned, found Caitlin, and felt something complicated.
Caitlin's expression was entirely composed, deep blue light igniting in her eyes. The pressure of her psychic output hit the Shadow Triad like a physical weight — all three of them dropped slightly at the knees under it, struggling to stay upright.
Gallade was already moving on to the Absol and Accelgor. Neither lasted long.
"That is seriously impressive—!" Touko stared at the Gallade with unabashed surprise.
The Shadow Triad was pinned. Every Poké Ball on them was collected.
"Come pick out yours."
Mammon gestured toward the recovered balls and nodded to Touko.
"Oh, yes! That one — thank you so much, both of you!"
Touko jogged over quickly, found the one with a small heart sticker on the back, and clutched it to her chest with visible relief. "I thought she was going to be gone for good—"
"Don't mention it. Taking down evil organizations like Team Plasma — it's everyone's business."
Mammon smiled at her, bright and warm.
Elesa said nothing. She was still privately working through the whiplash of everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours, and "Mammon enthusiastically fighting evil" was not easy to process against her current context.
She'd also spent part of the previous evening reading an article she'd found called "How to Be an Excellent Maid," which had been... instructive in uncomfortable ways.
A surprising portion of it had been things she'd genuinely never expected to need to know. Like the section on pre-warming the bed with your body temperature before the household head retired for the evening. Or the part about providing lap-pillow comfort and massage when the household head returned home exhausted.
Those had been on the manageable end of the spectrum. Some of the other entries she'd already had to put the article down for.
"Right! Team Plasma is so awful! They go around snatching other people's Pokémon and then lecture everyone about 'liberating' them — it makes absolutely no sense!"
Touko was in full agreement, extremely animated about it.
"By the way, Gym Leader Elesa — what are you doing in Icirrus?" Her natural curiosity kicked in.
"A little tired from everything lately. Came out here to clear my head with some friends." Elesa offered a slight, neutral smile.
"That makes sense, with so many challengers every day. That has to be exhausting." Touko nodded, then glanced from Elesa to Mammon with a thoughtful expression.
They're kind of a good pair, actually.
But she also wasn't oblivious — the striking girl who looked like she'd stepped out of an aristocratic portrait clearly had more of a claim than she did. Touko hadn't gotten this far in life without knowing when not to start something.
"Okay, I'm going to run this back to the kid before she panics any more — but I'll come find you all again after, okay?"
Touko waved, already jogging. She was genuinely curious about Caitlin now — that level of strength combined with what felt unmistakably like psychic ability-user output was not something you saw every day.
"Sure, come find—"
Mammon started to answer.
Then something happened.
A voice — not spoken aloud, not quite telepathy, not quite anything he had a name for — arrived from somewhere that didn't have a location, drifting into his consciousness like smoke through a window.
Truth... your... truth...
Mammon went completely still.
That's— This had to be psychic communication. Had to be. But—
Your truth...
What is it?
☆☆☆
-> 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