The other Pokémon remained seated quietly in their respective spots, eyes closed, digesting the energy they had absorbed this time.
Cain also sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to silently sense the changes taking place within his own body.
The attachment of the question mark Unown to his body had caused, to a greater or lesser extent, certain transformations. Moreover, Cain felt that these changes were not limited to what he had perceived so far; he simply had not stopped to examine them carefully, so he still did not fully understand them.
Taking advantage of the fact that his Pokémon were busy with their own matters, Cain decided to calmly examine the transformations in his body.
...
"So many days have passed already, and there's still not the slightest news of Cain. Those so-called scientists haven't even found the spatial stone that disappeared," Drake said to Steven and the others gathered in a room.
Because of Cain's situation, Steven and his group did not leave Mt. Silver right away, but instead stayed within the Mt. Silver League, waiting for news of his whereabouts.
However, at that moment, the four people sitting around the tea table all had rather gloomy expressions.
Cain had not returned with Steven and the others, and whether he was still alive or not was truly difficult to determine.
But the one reassuring point was that the spatial stone Cain carried with him had also not returned. This indicated that there was a high probability Cain was still alive, although he might be trapped in some closed space that could not be penetrated by the League's spatial devices, preventing his return.
"In a few days, the entire continent will be sealed again. If that happens, the next time we see Cain might be in five years. And for Cain... twenty-five years will have passed!" Steven said with a tense expression.
Cain's safety was probably not an issue, but if he had to wait five years to return, the variables during that period would be far too many.
Who knew what everything would be like in five years? Perhaps by then, with Steven's potential, he would already have become a Champion.
Moreover, for them it would only be five years, but for Cain it would be twenty-five.
Twenty-five years!
How many twenty-five-year periods can a human life have?
Cain was not yet twenty years old and was in the most rapid growth stage of his life, the period in which his strength increased the fastest. Spending that time on that continent would undoubtedly be an enormous loss.
It wasn't that improvement there was impossible, but Steven and the others had learned in previous meetings that there was a restriction in that place: the level of Pokémon could not surpass the first barrier of Champion level. Otherwise, Dialga and Palkia—two Pokémon with an extremely powerful territorial concept—would consider them a threat and eliminate them without mercy.
The strength corresponding to the second barrier of Champion level still seemed somewhat distant for Steven, but he believed that five years would be more than enough to reach it.
In fact, with the strong support of the Stone family and the League, Steven believed that at most three years would be enough to achieve it.
The remaining two years would be used to consolidate and stabilize his strength.
But Cain did not have that possibility. He could bring his Pokémon to the peak of the first barrier, but it would be impossible for him to cross the second.
In twenty-five years, only the first five—or even just the first three—would be useful time for progress. The rest would be genuine torment.
From Steven's perspective, that was not just a trial, but almost torture.
At the very least, if he himself spent twenty years without improving even a bit, he felt that he would probably go mad.
Drake's face had not shown any improvement in expression the entire time either.
He had disappeared for a period because his Salamence's strength was about to break through a limit, and he used that time to improve his other Pokémon as well.
After his return, Juan learned that he had made a major breakthrough and asked him to temporarily take on the position of Champion of Hoenn.
At first, Drake did not want to accept the position; he had even considered stepping down from his Elite Four role to make way for the younger generation.
As a veteran, he no longer pursued positions or fame. He only wished to see the next generation grow.
But Juan told him that he hoped he would stay to support those young people. Although they had returned from this experience with considerable strength, they lacked experience, and they needed Drake to act for a few more years as a kind of teacher and guide.
That was why Drake accepted the request.
He never imagined that shortly after becoming Champion, without even having had time to boast about it in front of Cain, something like this would happen.
If Cain could not return, it would be an enormous loss for the Hoenn region.
And it wasn't just Hoenn that was on edge. At that moment, old Matsuda and Grandma Syl from the Breeders' Guild had already arrived at the office of the Elders of the Central Council.
Probably, in the entire League, only Grandma Syl would dare to do such a thing.
Because... Grandma Syl was the daughter of one of the Elders!
Otherwise, how could she have become, in her youth, the dreaded Witch Sylvia who made the entire League tremble?
Who knew how many years that Elder was actually old, yet he still looked so robust.
As for old Matsuda, he was simply benefiting from Grandma Syl's influence.
Just as the four of them maintained grave expressions, Drake's communicator rang.
When he took it out, he saw that it was a call from Juan, and he answered without hesitation. But when he hung up, his already serious expression became even more somber.
Steven and the others, watching his expression closely, immediately asked, "Sir Drake, what happened?"
Drake stood up abruptly, his aura turning sharp, and with a forceful wave of his hand said, "Let's go! Back to Hoenn! The Sacred Church has begun its invasion!"
Upon hearing this, the eyes of Steven and the others hardened.
They hadn't even gone looking for trouble yet... and now those people dared to come on their own!
(End of chapter)