"What were you trying to prove, brat? Don't you know that within the League there are still who knows how many old monsters hiding? With their strength, there wasn't even any need for you to intervene!" Drake continued.
Cain nodded again and again, not even showing the intention to argue.
Only after quite some time did Drake's anger gradually subside.
Bang!
Bang!
But this time it was not to the head; instead, he gave two very firm pats on Cain's shoulders, with an expression mixed with satisfaction and melancholy.
"Brat... in the end, you've already surpassed your master..."
Now he finally understood what Old Matsuda had felt back then: that feeling of seeing one's disciple surpass the master was something that filled the heart with satisfaction and comfort.
But besides satisfaction, there was inevitably also a small sense of loss.
Because when the disciple surpasses the master, it also means that the master's mission has come to an end, that there is nothing left he can teach him.
The glorious retirement of a master.
Hearing Drake's words, Cain's heart was truly moved.
No matter what his identity was, no matter what position he stood in, whether he was on the side of good or evil, his two masters had been sincerely good to him.
That was something Cain could feel with absolute clarity.
Drake returned from the back of Cain's Salamence to his own, and continued moving forward at high speed while looking at the distant scenery.
"As a master, there is still one last thing I can do for you...," he thought silently as he gazed into the distance.
In fact, ever since the previous time, when Cain had overwhelmingly defeated three high-ranking members of the Sacred Church, Drake had felt that Cain's strength was probably no longer inferior to his own, although he believed the gap was not yet too large.
But this time, barely a month had passed, and judging by how the council elder had described Kael's strength, the fact that Cain had been able to restrain him for a period of time clearly showed that he was already above him.
And it was not a small difference, either.
The three of them traveled at maximum speed toward Hoenn. The matter of the Sacred Church could be considered resolved, but what came next would probably be even more serious.
Moreover, there were still quite a few remnants of the Sacred Church who had not been captured. The most important among them were two former Johto Elite Four members: the former Steel-type Elite Four, Irene, and the former Psychic-type Elite Four, Will.
Neither of them had appeared alongside the bishop of the Sacred Church, nor had they been seen in the various regions. It was impossible to know exactly how many people made up the Sacred Church.
The greatest concern was that those two, together with the remnants of the Sacred Church, would begin causing trouble everywhere and become an irritating threat, neither too large nor too small, to the League.
Of course, even if they truly began spreading chaos here and there, they would no longer pose a particularly serious threat to the League.
The most important matter was still Team Rocket. They needed to return and properly discuss all the details.
Although Team Rocket was an underground organization of the Kanto Region, it would inevitably also cause no small impact in Hoenn, so preparations had to begin as soon as possible.
Unlike the Sacred Church, Team Rocket had dominated the Kanto region for decades, to the point that even the League had been unable to eradicate it at the root.
Their combat forces numbered in the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. It was even possible that they reached the terrifying number of one hundred thousand people!
Such a colossus, if it truly launched a full assault against the League, could represent a threat similar to the Sacred Church, but the destruction it would cause would undoubtedly be far greater.
After flying for some time, the three of them began traveling using Cain's psychic power.
Although he had still not managed to determine exactly what changes those two special Unown forms, combined with the other twenty-five normal forms, had brought him, there was one thing he could clearly feel: his ability to perceive spatial coordinates had increased enormously.
And that meant the distance of his Teleports had also increased greatly.
Before receiving this improvement, Cain's psychic power had not allowed him to perform extremely long-distance transfers. In fact, due to his affinity with space, he could perceive spatial coordinates at greater distances than he was capable of folding with his psychic power, precisely because the amount of psychic energy he possessed was not sufficient to sustain such long-range transfers.
But now not only had the range at which he could perceive spatial coordinates more than doubled, the consumption of psychic power when using Teleport had also been greatly reduced, allowing him to cover even greater distances.
Moreover, after a long transfer, even after expending a large amount of psychic power, Cain felt that his recovery speed had increased more than tenfold.
What did tenfold mean?
It meant that, according to his current consumption rate, as long as he did not do something that clearly exceeded his limits, his psychic power was practically inexhaustible.
Cain was already extremely satisfied with such an improvement!
But judging by how it appeared, that improvement was far from the full extent of the benefits those Unown had brought him.
The three of them went directly to Juan's office. At that moment, Juan and several of the major figures of the Hoenn League were already seated there.
Although Drake had been physically present at the League headquarters at Mt. Silver, Juan had participated via video conference, so he was also quite familiar with the general course of events.
After entering the office, Cain simply found a place and sat down on his own.
Seeing that Drake, Cain, and Steven had already arrived, Juan and Drake briefly explained what had happened with the Sacred Church. They did not dwell too much on it; the real focus was on what might happen next.
As for the remnants of the Sacred Church, such as Irene and Will, since they were few in number and experts in psychic power, it would be relatively easy for them to evade tracking. Completely eradicating them would be quite difficult.
But in any case, the threat they posed to the League was not that great. They themselves would surely know what was best for them and would not recklessly appear to launch direct attacks against the League.
"In essence, this is the situation. Although Team Rocket is not located within our region, it will inevitably affect us to a greater or lesser extent. Especially in the areas bordering the Kanto Region, surveillance will need to be reinforced, because when Team Rocket erupts, it will not be on as small a scale as the Sacred Church."
"They have a great number of people and are spread everywhere. When the time comes, the impact they cause will not be insignificant," Juan said, interlacing his hands on the table, his expression incomparably grave.
(End of chapter)