Chapter 199: Every Sentence Is About Kyogre — This Must Be Love
None of it mattered, really — how many backup candidates Reshiram was running.
Mammon was entirely confident he could talk the white dragon into seeing things his way with his actual truth. And if the white dragon didn't like his truth, he'd let Kyogre's Origin Pulse give it a very truthful experience.
That ought to convey his sincere feelings about the whole situation quite clearly.
All things considered — perfectly sound plan.
"Hey, hey — are you a trainer too?"
Dinner had gone well. What had started somewhat subdued on Nora's end had gradually become quite lively, and by the time dishes were mostly cleared, she'd completely shed the hollow-eyed exhaustion she'd walked in with.
She was obviously someone who ran on social energy.
"I am. And I'd say I'm pretty well-known in League circles."
Mammon's smile was warm. Also completely unhumble.
Well — it wasn't wrong. His individual strength made him too volatile a target for any regional League to formally pursue, but between Kanto, Hoenn, Alola, and now Unova, the League hierarchies who knew his name were considerable.
Elesa, sitting nearby, experienced a faint facial expression that she quickly retired.
He's... technically not wrong.
"Whoa! That's amazing!"
Nora brightened noticeably.
"I'm going for the Unova Championship this year! I'm going to take down Champion Alder's title in one go!"
She straightened up with evident confidence and determination, fully intent on displacing that particular older man from his throne.
"If it's you, I'd say the odds aren't nothing." Mammon nodded, amused. "Though you should watch out for your friend. Touko's strength is genuinely impressive."
If Nora reached Champion-tier before year-end — and she almost certainly would — winning the Championship outright was the natural outcome. But Touko was in the same cohort, and potentially the same trajectory.
Were these two about to recreate the classic Gen I scenario? Nora breezes through the Championship, flushed with victory, sitting on the Champion's throne — and Touko walks in right behind her, challenger ready?
That would be genuinely chaotic.
"Hehe~ please! Touko? Come on, what does she have on me?"
Nora laughed, completely unconcerned, chin tilted upward with cheerful arrogance.
Then she — whether knowingly or not — very visibly straightened her posture.
Touko, sitting right beside her, felt her eye twitch.
"Heh heh heh..." A dry laugh from Touko, whose expression had gone very still around the eyes.
She understood exactly what had just happened.
They were literally the same age! Why did this woman get to be built like that while she was working with basically nothing!
"Nora. In our battles. You have never once beaten me." Touko smiled pleasantly.
"That was before! This is now! Touko, I just caught a really strong Pokémon recently~!"
Nora wasn't backing down.
Her Snivy's Grass typing had always given her trouble against Touko's Fire starter — they'd crossed paths twice on the road and lost both times, outplayed by a narrow margin.
But that was then—
"Funny coincidence. I caught a new main-team member recently too."
Touko's smile didn't reach her eyes anymore.
"Perfect time to test it against you."
Mammon watched the developing hostility between the two of them and started shelling peanuts. Excellent. He always enjoyed watching women argue.
"Hmph~ I'll save that for later. Right now I want to battle the handsome guy~"
Nora made a couple more triumphant sounds, then redirected her attention to Mammon, eyes bright with specific intent.
"...?" Mammon paused mid-peanut.
"Come on, come on — you're a trainer, right? Let's spar!"
She wanted a read on him. He had the look of someone who wasn't weak.
"You want to battle me?"
"Unless you don't want to fight me~?"
"I want to fight you just fine." Mammon's smile had a very slight quality to it that he didn't elaborate on. "Quite a bit, actually."
The table full of young women heard this as a simple acceptance of the battle challenge.
"Then let's go!" Nora grinned — clean, bright, entirely in the present.
Mammon didn't decline. He was genuinely curious about her current level, and he'd had this with most of the other "protagonists" he'd encountered but hadn't actually crossed blades with any of them except Red.
They found a nearby battle facility — in this world, battle courts were scattered through most cities and towns as general-use infrastructure for trainers.
Mammon and Nora took their positions on opposite sides of the field.
The bun-haired girl stretched out, rolled her shoulders, and finished with a full overhead stretch — her fitted top rode up slightly, showing a sliver of waist and the waistband of her tights underneath.
It had to be said: Nora read as impressively clear-cut on the surface, with a very specific quality hiding right underneath that surface.
Possibly attributable to the physique.
"It's getting late, so just one round." Mammon produced an Ultra Ball, looking at the girl across the field.
"Nora — I'm genuinely strong, so don't hold back. Show me everything."
"Ohh~ that confident? I'm pretty good too, you know."
She blinked at him, smile warming further. She liked that energy.
"I've got a year on you, so technically I'm a senior by some margin. Might as well show you something a little different."
The corner of Mammon's mouth lifted.
Something different? Nora's head tilted.
"My Pokémon—"
Mammon sent the Ultra Ball spinning off his fingers in an effortlessly smooth reverse throw.
"—Gyarados. Ready for battle."
ROOAAARR!!
The howl hit the arena like a physical wall. An enormous Gyarados crashed down into position before him — and the most immediately striking thing about it was a set of scales utterly unlike any Gyarados anyone had seen: they caught the light in deep, brilliant red, vivid and jewel-like.
A shiny Gyarados.
"Oh wow~ gorgeous!"
Gyarados's face was, to be direct about it, terrifying — the Pokédex was not subtle about the Atrocious Pokémon classification. But the shiny variant's crimson scales were genuinely spectacular, and the visual contrast it created was the entire point of shiny coloration in the first place.
"You're brave, though," Nora said, recovering quickly from the admiration. "Leading with a Gyarados."
Her tone was sympathetic.
Gyarados in the Water-type tier was objectively strong — T1 category, broadly. But its fatal flaw was the 4x Electric weakness. Opening with Gyarados against an unknown opponent was practically an invitation to get countered.
"Type matchups — a wall every trainer eventually has to climb over, isn't it." Mammon shrugged.
"Fair point, but since it's Gyarados—" Nora grinned and reached for her own ball. "Then I'll go with this! Hydreigon!"
She threw.
The Pokémon that unfurled above the field was fearsome in a very specific way — three-headed, dark, radiating menace.
Touko's eyes went slightly wide from the sideline.
So that's what Nora had been so confident about. She actually caught a Hydreigon.
Hydreigon — pseudo-legendary, Unova's own. Its strength needed no commentary.
"A Hydreigon. Respectable opponent." Mammon considered it for exactly one moment. "In that case, Nora — let me show you something."
His arm came up slowly. The Key Stone in his hand caught the light and blazed.
Simultaneously, Gyarados's Mega Stone ignited — and the iridescent light of evolution swallowed it entirely.
"Huh?" Nora's head tilted, confused.
"Mega Evolution — allows a Pokémon that's already reached its final evolved form to evolve one step further."
Mammon kept his voice easy as he explained.
The next roar that followed was an order of magnitude louder. Something larger emerged from the light — massive, coiled, hovering, with eyes that carried a distinctly different quality of menace. The red scales blazed even brighter now.
Mega Gyarados.
"That's — that's actually real?!"
Nora stared, jaw dropping.
There had been rumors circulating lately about some kind of new evolution phenomenon — but they'd lacked confirmation, and she'd been cautiously skeptical.
Seeing it with her own eyes was something else entirely.
"This is incredible! Insane! I love this—!"
Once the shock processed into comprehension, her eyes went absolutely incandescent.
Mega Evolution. Her mind immediately went to her own favorite. Could Serperior Mega Evolve? Could that be—
Opelucid City.
A man in an impeccably tailored suit stepped out of the car and looked up at the front of the Unova League building.
The corner of Giovanni's mouth curved, ever so slightly.
Back in Unova again.
A staff member guided him to the conference room, and when the door opened — well. Familiar faces.
Steven, Wallace, Cynthia, Leon. Almost exactly the Hoenn crew, minus Nemona.
"Gym Leader Giovanni." Wallace waved enthusiastically from across the table.
"Apologies for my late arrival."
"Not at all. Please have a seat." Alder's manner was genuinely welcoming. He'd heard the reports from Steven and the others — Giovanni's personal combat ability was formidable, and he'd secured Groudon on top of that.
"Gym Leader Giovanni — how have things been going with Groudon?"
Leon's question was direct and curious.
"We've come to an... arrangement." Giovanni chose his words, expression going slightly strange.
CURSE THAT DISGUSTING FAT FISH! I'M GOING TO SUN-DRY IT!
Those had been Groudon's first words upon awakening in Giovanni's possession.
Giovanni. When are we fighting the fat fish?
Giovanni. Are we fighting the fat fish today?
Giovanni. I WANT to fight the fat fish.
These had since become, by overwhelming statistical majority, the primary recurring content of every interaction between them. Any other time, Groudon slept in its ball.
Giovanni found this deeply unreasonable. Groudon appeared to have developed a rather fixated, shall we say, investment in Kyogre.
Three sentences a day, all three about the fat fish.
Well. Perhaps this was love.
☆☆☆
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