Chapter 285: Cynthia: "There's Nothing Improper Between Mammon and Me!"
Mmn...
In the brightly lit room, positions had, at some point, reversed entirely.
Sinnoh's most accomplished blonde Champion kept her eyes shut tight — until something finally broke through, and awareness came flooding back to her. The golden-haired Champion snapped her head to the side, hands flying up to push against a certain someone's chest.
"Get it out!"
Cynthia's voice carried a distinct edge of mortified indignation. They'd agreed it would just be a kiss — but Mammon had gone and — well, that alone was already too much. And then his hand had actually slipped inside her bodice! And squeezed! How could he!
"That wasn't on purpose."
Mammon looked utterly innocent — though seeing Cynthia's beautiful face flushed with embarrassment like this, he thought, gorgeous.
Cynthia said nothing further, sitting up to straighten her clothes and compose herself before promptly leaving his room. She had to get out of there — this man was genuinely too dangerous.
"And here I thought this woman didn't know how to blush." Mammon didn't try to stop her — tonight's haul had already been more than worthwhile. Cynthia really was as good as advertised, apparently. "Mm. A woman like that... she could be the mother of my children someday." A slow smile spread across his face. No rush. He'd take his time.
Outside Mammon's room, door shut behind her, Cynthia leaned back against the wall by the doorframe, finally letting out a breath. Her heart was pounding — faster than she could ever remember, faster even than the moment she'd won her first Lily of the Valley Conference title.
Was this really... was this okay?
Cynthia lowered her head, golden hair falling forward to hide her flushed, beautiful face. She replayed what had just happened — she'd actually done something that intimate with Mammon. This wasn't supposed to happen. Mammon wasn't just Team Rocket's boss — he had a girlfriend, too. And Caitlin. Caitlin liked him so much, and even she'd held back from confessing her feelings out of respect for that fact.
And her — what did that make her, then?
Cynthia's eyes clouded with confusion. She'd promised Caitlin, hadn't she?
"Cynthia?"
An elegant, clear voice cut suddenly into her thoughts.
"Caitlin."
Cynthia's heart lurched. She turned to find Caitlin standing there in an elegant pink dress, every bit her refined, aristocratic self.
"Cynthia, what are you doing standing here alone?"
Caitlin's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, her sharp instincts immediately picking up on something off about Cynthia's demeanor. In her experience, Cynthia was never someone who looked lost or uncertain — but just now, head bowed, leaning against the wall like this, that dazed, adrift posture was something she'd genuinely never seen from her before. And the way she'd startled at the sound of her voice — was that... panic? Caitlin's perceptiveness really was exceptional; even in that brief flash, she'd caught it. Mostly because Cynthia had always projected such a composed, rational, elegant image — this was strikingly out of character.
"Just came from Mammon's room. You know how it is, I'm his maid right now." Cynthia shook her head, her tone perfectly even.
The implication being: there's nothing improper between us!
"Oh? What were you two doing just now?"
"Scrubbing his back."
Cynthia let out a small sigh.
"This must be a first for you, Cynthia. I'm sorry you have to put up with this." Caitlin studied Cynthia's eyes but caught nothing further; the back-scrubbing detail didn't especially concern her. Caitlin's suspicions eased somewhat — she genuinely trusted Cynthia's character. Since Cynthia had already given her word, Caitlin believed she wouldn't try to steal her man.
"It's nothing. He saved Snowpoint City. I'm grateful to him." Cynthia's answer was flawless, watertight.
"Caitlin, were you just out somewhere?" Cynthia changed the subject, absolutely determined that Caitlin never learn what had happened in that room — she had no idea how she'd face Caitlin's questioning otherwise.
"Mm, running special training with Snowy and the others." Caitlin nodded, covering her mouth with one hand as she gave a languid yawn — she was getting sleepy.
"You must be tired. Go get some rest. I should turn in too."
"Good night, Cynthia."
The elegant young lady drifted off toward her own room. Watching Caitlin disappear through her door, Cynthia pressed her lips together, expression complicated, tinged with guilt.
I'm sorry, Caitlin.
The next day arrived.
Cynthia stood outside Mammon's door, hesitating — after last night, of course she'd hesitate. But waking him up was, technically, her current "job."
She opened the door and stepped inside.
"Mammon, it's getting late, time to get u— mmph—"
A few minutes later, Cynthia stepped calmly out of Mammon's room, entirely composed — and, sure enough, found Caitlin sitting nearby.
"Is Mammon awake?"
"Mm. He should be out shortly."
Hearing that, Caitlin nodded, glanced briefly at Cynthia, and went back to mulling over the day's training plan. It really has to be Cynthia. Not like those other two — Rika and Nora — who somehow manage to turn a straightforward maid task into ending up in Mammon's bed. Waking him up in the morning shouldn't take fifteen or twenty minutes, honestly — was that even a legitimate task anymore?
Cynthia, seeing that Caitlin hadn't noticed anything, silently congratulated herself on her own foresight and composure. Thank goodness she'd taken the time to straighten her clothes before stepping out, and thought to keep a tube of lip gloss in her pocket — otherwise, Caitlin surely would have caught on. There was no helping it — Cynthia had already noticed a genuinely eerie pattern: every single time she left Mammon's room, there was roughly a ninety-five percent chance of a golden-haired psychic-type young lady materializing right outside the door.
Truly! An alarmingly high spawn rate. So Cynthia had learned to prepare accordingly, and never lingered too long in Mammon's room.
That man really was too much! Yesterday he'd at least kept it to a ten-minute kiss before sneaking a hand into her clothes — today he'd gone straight in the moment their lips touched. Genuinely excessive.
The three of them finished breakfast. Yesterday's operation against Team Galactic at the Michina Ruins had wrapped up, and by this morning most of the Blueberry Academy students had either left or were out sightseeing around Michina Town. Mei and Touko had also headed out early — a message they'd left behind said they were off to scout nearby spots worth seeing. Since they'd only come over from Unova temporarily, they figured they'd make the most of the time left before heading back.
"So where to next?" Cynthia asked Mammon.
Technically, she probably should have parted ways with him by now — the whole reason she'd stayed at his side in the first place had been to find out how he intended to absorb Team Galactic. And now, with Charon captured by Team Rocket, Galactic was essentially finished. Sure, it hadn't been fully mopped up yet, but with the boss himself sent off to work the mines, what future could Galactic possibly have left? Still, because of what had happened in Snowpoint, she owed him a while longer as his "maid."
Mammon's phone rang. He answered, hung up a moment later, and a message came through soon after.
"I just got a rather interesting piece of news." Mammon studied the file that had come through with genuine interest.
"Cynthia, do you know how many executives Team Galactic has in total?"
"Three, I'd think? All of them already taken down by your side." Cynthia thought it over and answered — the three she meant being Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
"Right — and wrong." Mammon let out a light laugh.
"Team Galactic actually has five executives in total. One of their strongest was placed as an undercover mole in Kanto, joining Team Rocket, years ago on Charon's orders."
Mammon genuinely thought Charon had something wrong with him — someone as talented as Sham, and he'd sent her off to work as a mole? Sham's strength was leagues beyond Mars and the others, and she had the brains, the technique, the strategic sense to match. A subordinate like that, and instead of keeping her close and entrusted with real responsibility, he'd sent her out undercover? Charon really was reckless with his best assets.
"?" A question mark practically appeared over Cynthia's head.
"As it happens, that mole has since pledged loyalty to me. And beyond her and the three others, Galactic has one more executive — Cyrus."
Mammon's eyes narrowed slightly.
Cynthia thought it over — she'd heard the name before. Some kind of Galactic scientist, wasn't he?
"Cyrus himself isn't actually a scientist, though his research capability is genuinely impressive — he even built a machine capable of controlling Pokémon."
Mammon did have some background on Cyrus — in the original story, once Charon had been dragged into the Distortion World by Giratina, it was Cyrus who'd taken over Team Galactic and attempted to capture Cresselia.
"He's made a move?" Cynthia caught on — Mammon must have gotten wind of something.
"Exactly. Turns out he's got a decent head on his shoulders — must have found out yesterday that something went wrong for Charon."
"Team Galactic's people, without a peep out of anyone, have already gone and captured all three Lake Guardians."
Mammon released Reshiram as the three of them stepped outside Michina Town.
"Sham says Cyrus reached out to her, trying to convince her to come back to Sinnoh and finish what Charon started."
"The Lake Guardians' power is nearly finished being extracted. He's planning to head to Spear Pillar, summon Dialga and Palkia, and bring them under control."
Mammon genuinely hadn't expected this — he'd already taken Charon out of the picture ahead of schedule, and now Cyrus had picked up Charon's "inheritance" instead.
"What?" Cynthia was startled.
"No need to panic. Let's go check out Team Galactic's headquarters first."
Mammon showed no alarm — Cyrus alone wasn't going to stir up much trouble. And even if he really did manage to summon the twin gods of space and time, so what? All they needed to do was destroy the red chain, and Cyrus would lose control over them entirely. Relying on an item to bind and control a Legendary in the first place was already the single riskiest part of his whole plan.
What Mammon was actually mulling over now was a different question entirely. He looked at the white dragon before him, then glanced over at Cynthia and Caitlin beside him.
"Cyrus told Sham the location of Team Galactic's headquarters. Let's head over and take a look — we'll ride Reshiram, it'll be faster."
Ride the true dragon god of legend, Reshiram?
Something flickered across Cynthia's expression as she looked over the magnificent, aloof, achingly beautiful Legendary dragon before her. Reshiram really is gorgeous~
Reshiram tilted its head up slightly, sapphire-blue eyes gazing off into the distance, the very picture of icy, regal poise.
But in truth...
Hmm. Both these human women — my trainer likes them, doesn't he? Probably going to be his wives eventually. Should I maybe be a little friendlier to them? Reshiram found itself weighing whether it ought to make a good impression on its trainer's future partners. Because otherwise, once Kyurem eventually joined the team and started bullying it, how unfair would that be? At least with these two women around, they could put in a good word with Mammon on its behalf — no need to fear Kyurem then, right...? Probably?
Mammon had no idea what thoughts were running through the "brave" white dragon's head, and decisively went about assigning seats for himself.
"I'll take the middle. Which one of you wants the front?"
He'd left the front and back seats open, one each, for Cynthia and Caitlin.
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