This time, Team Magma and Team Aqua went all in to obtain the two orbs, showing just how important they were to them.
In the end, in order to take those two orbs, both Archie and Maxie even abandoned most of their subordinates.
Even the Elite-level Officers—unless they were of the very highest rank—were considered expendable.
That showed their determination.
If, in the end, the League had truly managed to stop them and they couldn't escape, Archie and Maxie would probably have gone insane.
At that moment, if they had decided to take down many League members with them, not even Drake or Norman could have stopped them.
So, in fact, what happened could be considered the best possible outcome.
Archie and Maxie paid a heavy price to escape, while the League had practically annihilated most of Team Aqua and Team Magma's forces. It was foreseeable that, for a long time, both teams would be forced to hide.
The only remaining threat was that the two orbs had fallen into their hands.
Groudon and Kyogre, who had slept for countless ages, might be about to awaken.
To face their awakening, the League needed to make preparations in advance.
The first step was to deal with all the major and minor forces that had arisen throughout the Hoenn region during this time.
The Hunter Guild could not be tolerated, nor could those small local factions.
"There's no point talking about this any further. Check the casualties, tie up all Team Magma and Team Aqua members, and take them back. We might be able to get some clues about Archie and Maxie's whereabouts from them," Drake said.
Immediately, several people followed his orders.
Everyone began moving again, though now it didn't have much to do with Cain.
He slowly approached Professor Cozmo, who was still dazed, and patted him on the shoulder to calm him, letting him know that the League wouldn't punish him—they knew he had acted under threats from Team Magma and Team Aqua.
In fact, what had happened had revealed his talents, and most likely, the League would end up recruiting him.
Cain crouched down and looked at the pit where the Blue Orb and Red Orb had been unearthed.
Carefully, he controlled his psychic power to move the earth little by little.
Given the importance of those orbs, they couldn't have simply been buried under the ground.
If I were an ancient, I would've built a container or a special altar.
Little by little, Cain's psychic power actually touched something hard.
A jolt ran through him; he stopped moving and extended his perception further to outline its shape.
It was a kind of special altar, though whether due to the passage of time or the extreme heat of the meteor that had fallen in Meteor Falls, the altar had deformed and melted.
That must have been the place where the ancients kept the Red Orb and Blue Orb, but when struck by the meteor, it ended up in the state they now saw.
The large cave-like space where they were standing had probably been dug out by those ancient people.
Only the altar had been buried under rocks and soil.
Cain's psychic power detected faint patterns on the altar's surface—like carvings or symbols—though they were so distorted that they could no longer be identified.
However, even though the altar itself was deformed and eroded, there was one object that remained intact.
Cain reached out and touched it. The sensation was like caressing polished jade.
With a thought, he wrapped it in his psychic power.
"This is..." Cain was stunned as he perceived its full shape.
It was a piece of carved jade, exquisitely detailed. Although the altar had been deformed by heat, this piece remained completely unharmed.
And the figure sculpted upon it seemed almost alive.
Rayquaza!
The object was none other than the image of Rayquaza. Its two claws were extended, one to the left and one to the right, like two trays, and the orbs had likely once rested upon them.
What did that mean?
That only Rayquaza could contain the Blue Orb and the Red Orb?
Cain touched the green jade sculpture, and instead of extracting it from the earth, he stored it directly into his storage space.
That object deserved to be studied more deeply later.
After that, Cain joined several Nurse Joys to tend to the wounded—both people and Pokémon alike.
And those who received treatment from Cain, upon looking at him, felt not only gratitude but also deep admiration.
Glacia was in charge of coordinating the final operations. Not only in that cave, but also in Team Magma and Team Aqua's bases, there were many things that hadn't been taken away, and even in the League's camp, many materials had been left behind in their rush to respond to the emergency.
Furthermore, the captured members of Team Magma and Team Aqua were stripped of their Pokémon and storage devices, tied up, and made ready to be taken to the League.
Aside from the survivors, there were also many dead—both humans and Pokémon.
In this kind of war, with large-scale battles, casualties were inevitable.
And the attacks always targeted the trainers themselves: everyone knew that if the trainer was taken down, their Pokémon would fall much more easily afterward.
While the work continued, Juan immediately received Drake's report.
The situation there was over, but neither the Hunter Guild nor many other local factions yet knew that the conflict had ended.
If Drake, Norman, and Glacia joined the main front against the Hunter Guild as surprise reinforcements, it would have a massive impact.
Not only them—even Cain and Steven could completely change the outcome of that battle.
So Juan ordered the remaining Advanced-level trainers to handle the clean-up, while the others were to head straight to the battlefield against the Hunter Guild for a surprise attack.
"Leave it to me," Cain said to Drake and the others, who were already getting ready.
Originally, Drake had thought his Salamence would carry them.
But Cain believed that if he used Slowking's Teleport instead, they would travel faster and far more silently.
That would guarantee the element of surprise, striking the Hunter Guild before they even realized it.
No one objected to Cain's proposal.
Leaving an Elite-level trainer in charge of the remaining tasks, they vanished from the place, wrapped in Slowking's psychic power.
The battlefield between the League and the Hunter Guild was in the forest between Oldale Town and Slateport City. Cain had already been there before, and had made Slowking leave a psychic mark, allowing them to arrive swiftly at their destination.
(End of chapter)