Chapter 284: Cynthia: "Mammon Won't Stop Insisting — What Do I Do"
"Ugh, this is so hard."
Mei was practically tearing at the two buns on top of her head in frustration.
"What's there to agonize over?" Touko couldn't help rolling her eyes at her. Sure, Mammon had given her three options — but as far as Touko was concerned, two of them were basically off the table from the start.
Where exactly was Mei supposed to go find a Salamence or a Metagross? Of the three — Kangaskhan, Salamence, Metagross — the latter two were pseudo-legendaries, and both native primarily to Hoenn. Sure, the Alpaca app technically offered redemptions for Bagon and Beldum, guaranteed decent stats and all — but the redemption cost for a pseudo-legendary was fifty thousand points! Was Mei just going to give up on Tornadus entirely?
As far as Touko was concerned, Mei really only had one realistic choice here.
"Huh, guess that's true," Mei blinked.
"It's not actually that hard, honestly — if you're set on it, you could head over to Meteor Falls in Hoenn and try your luck. It's the natural habitat for wild Bagon out there. Just don't get your hopes too high," Mammon offered, having naturally overheard the two girls' conversation.
Meteor Falls had always been Bagon's primary habitat — hardly a secret. Plenty of trainers had gone there hoping to find one, but very few actually succeeded. First, because the deeper reaches of Meteor Falls counted among the most dangerous wild areas in all of Hoenn, its wild Pokémon generally running at very high levels — dangerous territory for an ordinary trainer. Second, despite being called a "habitat," the area itself was enormous, and Bagon's numbers there were genuinely sparse — actually encountering one was no small feat.
"I'll just go catch a Kangaskhan instead. Parental Bond sounds pretty fun too, honestly."
Mei settled decisively on Kangaskhan — Hoenn was too far from Unova, and there was no guarantee of results even if she went. A Normal-type Kangaskhan was already solidly strong among Normal-types generally, and the description of Parental Bond post-Mega alone made it sound genuinely worth the investment. Since Mega Evolution channeled power into the baby Kangaskhan riding in its mother's pouch, letting it grow rapidly and fight alongside her — that meant, essentially, a completely legal two-against-one. What a delightfully broken ability. And the ceiling on it was clearly enormous. Mei's instincts were razor sharp, and her mind moved fast — she was already running through half a dozen tactics for a Mega Kangaskhan in her head.
"Very sensible pick. And if you raise your Kangaskhan properly, it won't fall short of a Mega Salamence or Mega Metagross either," Mammon said, nodding approvingly.
"Heh heh~" At Mammon's praise, Mei's eyes crinkled into happy crescents, absolutely delighted.
"Oh, right, Mammon — Touko hasn't settled on her Mega pick either. Could you recommend one for her too?" Mei snapped back to the matter at hand quickly, putting in a word for her best friend.
"Of course. Touko, what's your team look like?"
"Empoleon, my dragon-headed mole thing, Zoroark, Ferrothorn, Haxorus, and Braviary."
Touko blinked and rattled off her core lineup.
Just like Mei, a multi-type team — made sense, really; for prodigy trainers like the two of them, not building out a broad-coverage team would've been squandering their own talent.
"Almost entirely physical attackers."
"Right, so I was hoping for a Mega special attacker."
Touko nodded dutifully, since she too wanted something with real special-attack firepower.
"Gengar or Gardevoir would suit your team well. If you don't mind a type overlap, Mega Charizard Y is also an option," Mammon said, considering for a moment before offering his recommendation.
Touko looked thoughtful.
"Mega Charizard Y's ability is Drought — that would actually benefit your Empoleon too, sun boosting it indirectly... wait, no, that's backwards for a Water-type, let me flag that — actually its special attack stat is exceptionally strong regardless, and it'd suit a primary special attacker role well." Mega Charizard Y's popularity never quite matched its Fire/Dragon-typed sibling, Mega Charizard X, but in competitive terms its raw strength was every bit as good, especially with that prestigious Drought ability behind it. Even with its notorious 4x weakness to Rock-type moves, that didn't change how strong Mega Charizard Y fundamentally was.
"Mega Gengar's ability is Shadow Tag — I'd rank that one highly too."
Mammon himself kept a "black chubster" of his own, so his knowledge of Gengar ran deep. And in his own estimation, Mega Gengar's overall power actually exceeded Mega Charizard Y's. Because Shadow Tag as an ability was, frankly, obscenely good — under its effect, an opponent couldn't switch out a trapped Pokémon at all, forced to rely on moves like Baton Pass or U-turn just to escape. Beyond Shadow Tag, Mega Gengar also had access to a whole toolkit of thoroughly obnoxious status moves — Perish Song, Curse, Pain Split, Toxic, and more — giving it an unusually rich tactical range. And the most important part: Mega Gengar could genuinely fight. It was a fast, hard-hitting special attacker, standing out even among the broader pool of Mega Pokémon.
Honestly, the main reason Gengar had ended up as Mammon's own starter Pokémon in the first place was exactly this versatility — it could attack, support, disrupt, curse, and even when it lost, it could still pull off a last-ditch trade. Sure, its bulk was on the fragile side — but if it had solid bulk too, what would be left for any other Pokémon to specialize in? Might as well let Gengar do everything itself.
"As for Mega Gardevoir — ability Fairy Aura, also a strong special attacker."
Mammon added after a moment's thought. Honestly, compared to Mega Charizard Y and Mega Gengar, Mega Gardevoir did fall a bit short in raw power and overall team utility — but it had its own strengths too, and since the typing was different, a direct comparison wasn't entirely fair to begin with. Besides, Mega Gardevoir's looks were pretty formidable in their own right.
"Alright, I'll think it over carefully. Thank you for the advice, Mr. Mammon."
Touko thanked him politely, having gotten a decent sense of the three options' relative strengths and weaknesses now. She'd just been teasing Mei for agonizing over her choice — now it was her turn. None of the three carried the rarity of a pseudo-legendary, sure, but that was exactly what made this harder, not easier.
"No need to thank me, just running my mouth. Any other questions?"
Mammon's hand was still gently stroking a certain Sinnoh Champion's soft waist, and showing distinct signs of wandering upward.
"Nothing else from me," Touko said, shaking her head — she needed to make her own decision first.
"Nothing from me either, Mammon, Mammon — you must get so lonely sleeping alone at nigh—mmph!"
Mei's sentence cut off mid-word into a muffled, indignant "mmph mmph" sound, as if someone had just clapped a hand over her mouth. No question who'd done it — Touko. She genuinely feared what unhinged nonsense might come out of Mei next; if she kept going, Mei might actually make a run for Mammon's room. Was Touko about to become an "auntie" by next year or something? That would be way too much.
"We'll let you go now, Mr. Mammon. Good night." Touko started the goodbyes.
"Night."
Mammon laughed softly and hung up. Those two girls really were something else.
"What do you think, Cynthia?"
"I think your hand shouldn't be where it currently is, Mammon."
Cynthia pressed a hand over the one that had just made contact through her clothes, resting against her chest, letting out a small sigh.
"Oh, sorry. My hand may have a mind of its own."
He said sorry — but showed absolutely no intention of actually withdrawing it. Not until Cynthia had stared him down in dead silence for a solid ten seconds, pinning his hand firmly in place, that he finally pulled it back.
"Mammon. Do you do this often — behave like this with girls?"
Cynthia genuinely felt he was suspiciously practiced at this. Too practiced, honestly.
"Come on now, I'm not that kind of casual person."
"Neither am I, Mammon." Cynthia's tone carried real complexity. She hadn't even had a proper romantic relationship in her life — not that she'd been actively looking for a boyfriend, either; she'd always considered her duty as Champion to be protecting Sinnoh, first and foremost.
"Well, mostly it's just because I really do like you, Cynthia. You know that."
"We had an agreement. You shouldn't be pushing things this far with me."
Cynthia was growing increasingly worried about her own "safety" at this point — Mammon wasn't even bothering to pretend to hold back anymore.
"But looking after your master's physical and emotional wellbeing is also part of a maid's duty."
Mammon flashed a grin, deftly sidestepping the point and turning it right back on her.
"You couldn't even satisfy your master properly, Cynthia — do you really think that's alright?"
"Or is it that what happened in Snowpoint's already water under the bridge to you, so now you're just going through the motions?"
Moral blackmail! Against someone as principled and conscience-driven as Cynthia, moral blackmail was a devastatingly effective weapon. At his words she looked down into Mammon's eyes, and could clearly see her own reflection in their bright, clear depths. His eyes really were striking — luminous, full of life. Cynthia genuinely found it hard to believe someone this young, already commanding an organization the size of Team Rocket, could have eyes this beautiful.
But just as clearly, she could see the desire in them too — directed at her, and unmistakably intense.
"That's not what I think at all. I'm genuinely grateful you stopped Regigigas and saved Snowpoint City."
"Gratitude expressed only in words, though — that's really not very satisfying."
"Then what do you want?"
"There. Right here."
Mammon tapped his own lips, his grin utterly shameless.
Cynthia felt something short-circuit in her head. Was he — asking for a kiss? How could he possibly ask that! Wasn't that something reserved only for a boyfriend?
"Just one goodnight kiss. Not too much to ask, is it?"
How was that not too much to ask?!
Cynthia, thoroughly stunned by Mammon's sheer shamelessness, found herself completely at a loss for what to do.
Caitlin, what am I supposed to do here? He just won't stop insisting!
☆☆☆
-> 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