The battle was over.
Although the winner was Giovanni...
And it had been an overwhelming victory, without a doubt...
Even so, Giovanni began to take Cain a little more seriously.
That he won was completely logical. Even though the Pokémon he used this time weren't from his first or even second battle lineup, they were still his— and that said a lot.
Despite starting at a disadvantage, Cain had managed to defeat two of his Pokémon.
That his own Pokémon had type disadvantages was inevitable; in battle, anyone can face an opponent with a type advantage. But that's never an excuse to lose.
Giovanni withdrew his last Pokémon, his Garchomp, returning it to its Pokéball.
He already had a fairly clear assessment of Cain's level.
"Not bad. With your current strength, you should be able to face Umbra without embarrassing yourself," said Giovanni, no longer in the mood to keep fighting.
At first, he only wanted to take out some of his anger on Cain.
But after that round of battles, he discovered even more qualities in him.
Someone who had left Trial Island just over a year ago... and was already at this level... It was truly impressive.
"Thank you for your recognition, sir," Cain replied respectfully.
He looked at Giovanni—calm and composed—and then at himself: drenched in sweat from the intense concentration the battle had demanded of him.
The difference between the two was clear.
A distance wider than the deepest canyon in the Pokémon world.
Whether in control of his Pokémon, brute strength, or the way he had trained them, Cain had been completely outmatched.
Not even with his mental communication advantage could he match Giovanni's strategic level.
After releasing the tension, Giovanni straightened his shirt and then put on the black jacket lying on the ground. Without saying another word, he left the place.
Cain, for his part, was completely exhausted. Maintaining telepathic communication for so long had pushed him to his limit.
After resting for a while, he returned to his room. He treated his Pokémon's wounds and collapsed onto the bed, falling sound asleep.
In reality, Cain's growth rate was already incredible.
The fact that he could stand against Giovanni—and not be utterly crushed—was already enough to surprise him.
...
Two days later.
Cain got fully dressed, packed everything he needed, and returned to the base laboratory.
Blaine was already waiting there, surrounded by several researchers in white lab coats.
Cain, dressed entirely in black, stood out among them.
They were gathered in a completely white room, impeccably clean.
In his hands, Cain held a device shaped like a watch. Clearly designed that way on purpose.
"Officer Cain, are you ready? Do you have everything you need?" asked Blaine.
Cain nodded.
"This device is shaped like a watch because it needs to constantly absorb the floating spatial energy in the environment. If you stored it in a dimensional storage system, the entire space could collapse. That's why it was designed this way—to make it easier to carry."
"And take this too," he added, handing him a bracelet.
"This is a special space device. Inside it is a complete interdimensional communication system. If you find traces of Mew, all you need to do is activate it. The device will automatically deploy and send us signals so we can detect the location."
Blaine continued with the final preparations: "If the transport device fails, open that bracelet and we'll be able to bring you back. Don't worry. Also, the watch contains a basic map of that alternate space. If the system works properly, you'll also be able to locate yourself inside and move around more freely."
Cain had just received two extraordinary objects.
Both represented the greatest scientific achievements of the Pokémon world in space research.
However, since they were electronic devices, the moment they fell into Cain's hands, the system activated to take full control.
As he placed it on his right hand, the system had already begun infiltrating.
Even though Blaine sounded very confident, Cain preferred to verify everything himself.
Feigning calm in front of him, Cain waited less than a minute while the system scanned everything.
The analysis confirmed that the devices did what Blaine had said...
But it also detected something else.
That watch included a hidden surveillance and listening system.
Installed so discreetly that, without the system scan, Cain wouldn't have found it even by disassembling the device.
A cold shiver ran through him.
"I knew it... it couldn't be that simple," Cain thought.
Maybe they still didn't fully trust him operating alone. But once inside, that would no longer be under Blaine's control.
Having confirmed there was no danger, Cain followed Blaine to a small room made of special glass.
In front of everyone, he activated the watch. In a blink, he vanished completely.
"Monitor his status. Even though it's a transport device, traveling that distance isn't something done in a few minutes," ordered Blaine.
"Yes!" responded one of the technicians, running to a special device to check Cain's status.
"Mr. Blaine! There's no image from the device, no sound is being registered... we can't even track the location," he reported loudly.
Blaine narrowed his eyes.
"Despite all the precautions... we underestimated Cain..."
"Now we can only wait. What an unpleasant feeling," Blaine muttered.
Not for a second did he believe the device had failed. In that, he had complete confidence.
And since Cain had just vanished, and the destination wasn't that far, they should've already received data.
So there was only one possibility: Cain had deliberately blocked the transmission functions.
Maybe using psychic powers?
"A very useful ability... I wonder if an ordinary human could ever obtain it someday..." Blaine reflected.
"Back to work. We can't rely on luck. Genetic fusion is still our priority," Blaine concluded.
With that, Blaine left with his team.
...
The moment the device activated, Cain felt like he was entering a strange tunnel.
Very similar to the effects of Slowking's Teleport move...
But it wasn't the same.
Teleport was faster and came with Slowking's psychic protection, so he had never felt anything.
This type of spatial transfer was different. Much slower.
It felt like something was dragging him through an unknown channel. He could only use his psychic power to wrap himself and protect himself.
While traveling, his psychic energy began to be imbued with a subtle fluctuation of spatial energy.
"No wonder it requires not just a psychic, but one with high spatial sensitivity..." Cain thought as he moved forward.
(End of Chapter)