The battle didn't last long.
Night fell.
Cain camped alongside his Pokémon not far from the base of Mt. Chimney.
Many of his Pokémon had been temporarily sent back to his private island.
Now, thanks to Cain's deliberate development, the island had already grown to a considerable scale.
Living there was like dwelling in a hidden paradise, completely detached from the world.
At his side remained: Pupitar, Aggron, Blaziken, Swampert, Ralts, Bagon, and Horsea — a total of seven Pokémon.
Besides Gengar, who stayed hidden in the shadows as a final line of defense, only Flygon remained as his aerial mount.
Pupitar had already entered a complete state of meditation. When summoned, it stood with eyes closed, completely motionless.
That restless nature it once had now seemed completely suppressed.
However, this kind of silent, forced training was ideal to strengthen its resolve and mindset.
If it could overcome this stage, its future evolution into Tyranitar would be completely natural.
Currently at level 49, Pupitar was close to evolving. It only lacked six more levels, and Cain hoped it would take that step steadily.
Aggron, on the other hand, was in a completely opposite state.
It ate and trained with full effort every day.
That was something Cain had directly instructed it to do.
Due to its metallic structure, Aggron's mobility had always been a limitation. Completely changing that was impossible, but it could gradually adjust it through training and routine.
Even so, Aggron's body remained its most powerful weapon.
To support that heavy metallic armor, every muscle had to be perfected.
Hence, Cain asked it to eat a lot and exercise constantly.
As for Blaziken, its training focus had changed entirely.
Previously, as a fighting-type Pokémon, it mainly focused on physical strengthening, but lately it could be seen sitting on tree branches, eyes closed, as if meditating.
This was thanks to Cain's guidance.
Sometimes, strength isn't everything — especially for a Pokémon like Blaziken, which excels in speed.
If it increased its strength to the point of losing its speed — its greatest advantage — it would be a loss.
What mattered was how to generate the greatest possible damage with limited strength, and how to unleash moves with maximum effect.
Cain had taught it basic concepts of techniques like tai chi, using softness to overcome hardness, or the famous "four ounces move a thousand pounds." Although Cain didn't fully understand it, he passed the theory to Blaziken, and it would have to find its own style based on its talent and dedication.
Swampert was the first among Cain's second group of Pokémon to reach the Quasi-Elite level, though it had been kept hidden for quite a while.
Not due to lack of power, but because its level was rising too fast and Cain had to hold it back.
Except during its Mudkip stage, when it trained with Larvitar and the others, it then leveled up without stopping.
This was due to Cain's participation in the Sinnoh Tournament, which didn't allow him to slow its progress.
That's why Swampert had been out of the picture for a long time.
Now that everything had stabilized, Cain brought it back with him.
Politoed was not present this time because Cain planned to focus on training his small-scale sandstorm team. As the core of his rain team, Politoed was temporarily sent back.
And, in fact, Swampert, as a water/ground-type Pokémon, could also fit into the sandstorm team.
It could cover the team's weaknesses against water-type Pokémon, functioning as auxiliary defense.
Of course, if they came across a grass-type Pokémon, Cain would just pretend he hadn't thought of that.
Aside from these four members of the second group, the true protagonists of this training at the foot of Mt. Chimney were: Bagon, Horsea, and Ralts.
Ralts was at level 19.
In reality, with its current training pace, it should have already reached level 20 and evolved into Kirlia.
But as always, Cain decided to suppress the evolution temporarily.
This would allow its body to develop fully before evolving.
Among all of Cain's Pokémon, if any had the potential to reach the Black-grade quality rank, it was undoubtedly Ralts.
Even more than Pupitar.
From birth, Ralts had shown a Light Purple quality rank.
A true genius by nature.
So Cain believed it was necessary to slow its progress a bit, to accumulate strength and gain momentum in the future.
In contrast, Bagon had always been a Pokémon Cain didn't need to worry about.
The only thing that concerned him was that Bagon might be so stubborn it would harm its foundation by overdoing it.
But Cain had underestimated both the constitution of a pure dragon-type Pokémon and Drake's research on Bagon.
In fact, if Cain found high-quality materials suited for Bagon, its future would be extraordinary, given its dedication.
Comparing Bagon and Ralts was like comparing a hard-working genius with a natural genius.
Cain believed Bagon's potential wouldn't be less than Ralts's.
At least in battle, they'd be on the same level.
And lastly, Horsea.
Originally captured to complete his rain team, it now fit perfectly into the team.
Its growth speed was so fast it was already catching up to Bagon.
Perhaps due to the constant stimulus from the latter.
Cain was pleased to see this.
After placing each Pokémon in their respective training tasks, Cain sat cross-legged on the ground and pulled out a large number of materials from his storage space.
Now that he had all the necessary ingredients, he could prepare the quality-enhancement potion for Kirlia.
He had also gathered the materials to restore Riolu's egg.
According to the system, it was ready to hatch.
But Cain didn't have time at the moment to care for a newborn Pokémon, so he would wait until he had resolved current matters to fully dedicate himself.
A Pokémon like Riolu must be treated sincerely from the beginning.
Just as Cain finished preparing both items, the League communicator began to ring non-stop.
When he picked it up and read the message, he couldn't take his eyes off it for quite a while.
The Electric-type Elite Four member, Wattson, resigns from his post as a member of the Elite Four of the Hoenn region.
The Hoenn region... was about to become turbulent.
(End of chapter)