Although Cain was still unable to return, no one believed that he had died or that he would not come back, so his position as an Elite Four member remained intact.
As for the other two Elite Four members, Glacia and Sidney, they were not yet of retirement age. They were in their prime and had not held their positions for very long.
They had made no mistakes and lacked no strength, so naturally there was no reason to remove them.
And to be honest, in the entire Hoenn League, the two people most capable of handling internal affairs were precisely them. Even if they wanted to resign now, the Hoenn League would not let them go.
Look at what the Champion and Elite Four of the Hoenn region are like right now.
The Sandstorm Elite Four, Cain, who basically never handles anything.
The Dragon-type Champion, Drake, who directly handles nothing at all.
Steven Stone, the Steel-type Elite Four, who occasionally takes care of some matters, but who most of the time has to devote himself to managing the Devon Corporation.
And then there is Phoebe, who in the future has enough strength to take on the position of Elite Four, but who, just by looking at her, one can tell knows nothing about management. It's not that Phoebe doesn't want to take charge—she simply doesn't know how.
Then there is Wallace. From the very beginning, his aspirations were never in the Elite Four nor in the position of Champion; what he pursues is absolute beauty. Becoming the most outstanding Coordinator is his ideal.
For this very reason, Glacia and Sidney are indispensable. They are two key pieces, talents that all regional Leagues would want to snatch away.
As for combat? That is mainly left to those who enjoy loafing around!
However, the current situation of the entire League is somewhat unstable. Since the members of the Sacred Church are all Psychic-types, their support speed is extremely fast. Combined with a variety of ever-changing special methods, they managed to catch a League that lacked sufficient information completely off guard.
The League never imagined that the Sacred Church, an organization about which there had previously been no information at all, concealed so many powerful experts. No one knew where they had been hiding all this time.
But the League's upper echelons believe that after several more clashes, once enough information has been gathered and the Sacred Church's methods are better understood, they will be able to launch a counteroffensive.
...
"It's almost done!" Cain stood up and moved a certain distance away from Tyranitar. As he observed Tyranitar, whose size had noticeably decreased, he could sense an explosive power contained within it.
Before, Tyranitar far exceeded three meters in height, even much taller than Aggron, which stood at three meters.
Now, its height had been reduced to about two meters six or two meters seven. Although it was shorter, its presence was even more intimidating.
The massive increase in its physical strength, combined with a weight that had barely changed and a reduction in body size, indicated that the density of its body was now much higher, and its hardness had also increased considerably.
Both its movement speed and explosive power had improved enormously.
Compared to before, calling it a "compact cannon" was no exaggeration at all.
The changes, however, were already coming to an end. Tyranitar had not eaten shells for quite some time, and the tremors in its muscles and body had stabilized. It was almost time for it to wake up.
During that time, Cain had mainly focused on training himself, occasionally observing Tyranitar's condition.
"Tyran!" Tyranitar let out a low growl and slowly opened its eyes.
A trace of confusion flashed in its gaze, immediately followed by a deep sense of nostalgia and attachment. That warmth... it would probably never feel it again in its entire life.
Pat, pat, pat!
Very soon, Cain's pats managed to pull it out of that feeling of longing.
"Now is the best time. As long as I'm with Cain, anywhere is warm," Tyranitar thought, feeling its spirits rise again, even higher than before.
"You've become stronger again, Tyranitar. Good job!" Cain said with a smile.
Upon hearing Cain's praise, that enormous Pokémon standing over two meters tall unexpectedly showed a shy expression, completely incongruent with its fierce appearance.
Pokémon: Tyranitar (Black)
Gender: Male
Level: 88
Type: Rock + Dark (Ground+ Fire + Dragon)
Ability: Sand Stream
Held Item: Smooth Rock, Tyranitarite
Egg Moves: Dragon Dance, Outrage, Ancient Power, Stealth Rock
Basic Moves: Bite, Leer, Sandstorm, Screech, Chip Away, Rock Slide, Scary Face, Thrash, Dark Pulse, Payback, Crunch, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact
Learned Moves: Snore, Earth Power, Precipice Blades (70%), Dragon Pulse, Iron Defense, Aqua Tail, Ice Punch, Stomping Tantrum, Fire Punch, Iron Tail, Thunder Punch
TM Moves: Protect, Earthquake, Thunder, Brick Break, Flamethrower, Shadow Claw, Rock Polish, Stone Edge
"!" Cain's heart skipped a beat.
Tyranitar's quality had also reached the color Black, something that did not surprise Cain at all.
After all, these were the shells of three top-tier Legendary Pokémon. If the energy absorbed by Salamence and the others could only be considered an appetizer, then what Tyranitar had ingested was the main course.
Raising its original Light Black quality to full Black quality was nothing unexpected.
What truly surprised Cain was that Tyranitar's hidden attributes, which had previously been Ground and Fire, now also included the Dragon type!
Although there had always been a certain Dragon-type lineage in its inheritance—otherwise, it would not have been able to inherit moves like Dragon Dance and Outrage, which many Dragon-type Pokémon cannot even learn—inheritance of Dragon-type moves did not mean possessing the Dragon attribute, but rather extraordinary potential.
However, after devouring the shells of those three Dragon-type Legendary Pokémon, the draconic lineage hidden within its body was fully activated.
When Tyranitar was still in its Larvitar stage, as a Ground- and Rock-type Pokémon, it absorbed the Fragment of Groudon's armor. After evolving, it retained the Ground attribute.
Later on, it absorbed even more energy from Primal Groudon, which granted it the Fire attribute.
Now, after ingesting the original shells of three top-tier Legendary Pokémon, its potential was once again developed, awakening and strengthening the Dragon blood hidden within it, adding a brand-new Dragon attribute out of nowhere!
That was something Cain had never expected.
Even so, these hidden attributes were still just that: hidden. They were different from attributes visible to the public.
These hidden attributes allowed Tyranitar to use energy of those types without loss, executing moves of those attributes without their power being reduced due to a mismatch with its main type.
But in the end, what is hidden does not manifest externally, so for now, those attributes could not be considered complete defensive attributes.
That is to say, they could not completely nullify attacks of those types, though they were far from useless: they could mitigate roughly about half of the damage.
Even so, that was already more than enough. It was an extremely abnormal capability. With such attributes, combined with a body that had literally grown by devouring diamonds and whose density had reached unknown levels, calling it an invincible defense among Pokémon of the same level was absolutely no exaggeration in Cain's eyes.
Especially after this enhancement, Tyranitar also inherited the extraordinary physical resilience unique to Dragon-type Pokémon.
And if that were combined with Mega Evolution...
(End of chapter)