Tyranitar's strength was already quite remarkable, and moreover, it was the tactical core of Cain. An increase in its power would bring the greatest improvement to Cain's overall strength.
Likewise, Tyranitar's individual combat capability ranked among the top three of all Cain's Pokémon. Its quality and potential were not low, and its body was sufficiently resilient.
In that case, it was better to go all in. If Tyranitar managed to rise in one leap thanks to those shells, it would be pure luck. And if not, it didn't matter—let it increase its power as much as it could.
And what was Tyranitar, in whom Cain had placed so many hopes, doing?
Eating!
At first, it ate with great delight. As soon as the shells entered its stomach, it felt its body grow warm, completely wrapped in a pleasant sensation, as if it were in its mother's arms.
Although Tyranitar had never experienced a mother's embrace, it felt that it must be similar to Cain's.
When Tyranitar was small, still in its Larvitar stage, it wished with all its might to throw itself into Cain's arms, because it loved that feeling of warmth.
Even though its weight was already terrifying at that time, Cain endured the impact again and again, because he knew exactly what Tyranitar lacked.
But after it evolved, it lost the right to throw itself into Cain's arms.
However, by eating those shells, it felt that sensation again, which made it cling to it even more.
Now it felt that it was reaching its limit. It wasn't that its stomach couldn't hold any more; with Tyranitar's stomach, even if there were a mountain in front of it, it could slowly eat it away.
It was a very strange sensation: the stomach gave no signals, but the body told it that it was already "full."
Even so, how could Tyranitar stop eating when it was enjoying it so much? Stopping would mean losing that sensation... perhaps the last time in its life that it would feel the warmth of Cain's embrace.
Therefore, it consciously slowed down its intake speed and, at the same time, "told" its body that it wasn't full yet, wishing to be able to hold more.
With this change in its thoughts, Tyranitar's body began to transform according to its subconscious ideas, adapting more and more to its will—or rather, to its thoughts.
This might be what is known as "the body follows the mind."
The ideas of the brain are transmitted to the body, and from top to bottom everything constantly changes in accordance with those thoughts.
In nature, this kind of phenomenon is very common. To adapt to certain environments, some animals change organs or parts of their bodies, because at some point they thought, "I wish I could do this or that."
Of course, this is also a form of natural selection: there are many ideas, but only the most suitable ones manage to be preserved.
Pokémon, after all, can also be considered a type of animal, except that compared to ordinary animals, they possess a much stronger capacity for self-regulation, especially those that can evolve.
Evolution itself is a metamorphosis, a form of progress.
The difference is that Pokémon have turned evolution into an instinct they can control to a certain extent, whereas in animals it is an uncontrollable and extremely long process.
Tyranitar was precisely in that state.
Before Cain's eyes, Tyranitar's various values repeatedly reached the limit that its current body could withstand. Every time Cain thought it could no longer continue eating, Tyranitar would, almost miraculously, break its own limit and grow once more.
Each time he saw this, a flash of surprise crossed Cain's eyes.
That Tyranitar could repeatedly break its limits proved that its body had not yet reached the maximum state its quality allowed.
Under Cain's high-intensity training, Tyranitar had still not reached its physical limit. There was still hidden potential in its body that Cain had not been able to develop.
This was something even Cain himself had not anticipated.
But viewed from another angle, it was perfect for making up for the shortcomings in Cain's training.
What he did not expect was that even the system's analysis could be wrong.
In fact, the system's analysis was not entirely wrong; it was simply that there were things a mechanism purely based on data could not interpret, and those were emotions.
Both humans and Pokémon possess emotions, and when these erupt, it is not impossible to surpass limits. It was just that Cain did not expect it to happen so frequently.
"A little more... just a little more... just a little more time. Let me feel this warmth for a little longer; it might be the last time in my entire life... This warmth..." Tyranitar thought silently.
Right after that, Cain saw all the muscles in Tyranitar's body begin to tremble, expanding and contracting alternately; it was truly astonishing.
If Cain were not completely certain that Tyranitar's condition was excellent, he would have already ordered it to stop. But judging by the appearance of the remaining shells, that state would probably last for quite some time.
"I hope it doesn't last until the end of this training. If it does, even if it can get out of this barrier, how is it supposed to come back?" Cain thought with some concern.
Even so, he was not idle: thoroughly studying his own psychic and spatial abilities was also a clear path of progress.
...
While Cain continued to immerse himself in the sensation of his rapidly increasing power, the Pokémon world was undergoing enormous changes.
The Sacred Church stopped concealing its strength and launched a massive attack against the League. Its primary targets were the Kanto League, located at Mt. Silver, and the Johto League, which had been founded not long ago.
Of course, to prevent other regions from interfering with their actions, the Sacred Church also sent powerful members to attack different regions.
If Cain were in the Hoenn region at that moment, he would have discovered that the person in charge of the Sacred Church there was his old acquaintance: Marcus.
For some reason, Marcus's strength had recovered quite a bit compared to his previously weakened state.
However, thanks to Drake's strong return, combined with the great increase in power of Steven and the others, Hoenn was able to withstand the onslaught of the Sacred Church without issue.
Moreover, with Cain still absent, with Drake silently assuming the position of Champion, and with Hoenn under external pressure, the region needed fresh blood as well as internal figures capable of strengthening the people's confidence.
Therefore, the day after the League repelled the invasion of the Sacred Church, Steven successfully became Hoenn's fourth Elite Four member.
The Steel-type Elite Four: Steven Stone!
At the same time, Phoebe was appointed acting head of Hoenn's Department of Investigators.
The reason it was an acting position was that Phoebe did not wish to hold the post permanently. She had great combat capability, but her command ability was practically nonexistent, so during her tenure she was only responsible for fighting.
In essence, she was given a position recognized by all to demonstrate her strength.
(End of chapter)