Team Rocket and Team Flare had already maintained a certain level of cooperation beforehand.
The main aspect of it was that Team Rocket regularly placed orders with Team Flare for certain combat suits. Even incomplete versions were still extremely valuable.
Within Team Rocket, only members of a certain rank had the right to use them.
Of course, the relationship between the two was nothing more than a pure exchange of benefits. There was no special bond between them.
Team Flare needed Team Rocket's financial capacity and certain technical and knowledge-based support, while Team Rocket needed those combat suits to strengthen its own military capability.
Most of the high-ranking members had faces filled with anger. They were waiting for Cain, that deputy leader, to arrive so they could give him a proper lesson.
But when they looked at Lysandre and saw his carefree smile, they all felt completely helpless.
Their leader truly supported that so-called deputy leader far too much, to the point that they no longer knew how to handle the matter.
Did Lysandre not understand what those hundreds of Mega Stones now represented?
It could be said without exaggeration that, after Cain, the Sandstorm Elite Four member of Hoenn, announced Mega Evolution, the value of Mega Stones had skyrocketed without limit.
Even a single Mega Stone whose compatible Pokémon was unknown already had a value high enough to be exchanged for the egg of a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, and it would still need to be one with especially outstanding aptitude and talent.
Of course, in the case of Mega Stones whose user was unknown, there was a certain element of gambling involved. But if it was a Mega Stone whose compatible Pokémon was already known with certainty, then its value was even greater, especially for trainers who possessed that Pokémon.
And if by chance someone obtained a Mega Stone belonging to a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, then congratulations: once the news leaked out, it was impossible to know how many people would appear to kill and seize it.
A treasure of that level was no longer something an ordinary person could afford to possess. Only the truly strong had the ability to keep and control it; otherwise, instead of being a treasure, it would become a calamity.
Because the value of something like that could no longer be measured in money!
Just like Cain, who had used a Metagross Mega Stone to exchange for something that, even for a giant family like the Stones, was one of the most fundamental and crucial foundations of their family: the method for polishing and improving the aptitude of steel-type Pokémon.
Without exaggeration, anyone who possessed that method could completely reproduce a steel-type Pokémon-based family like the Stones, and if developed for several decades, perhaps another Stone family could even emerge.
That was enough to show just how incredibly high the value of a pseudo-legendary Mega Stone was.
Of course, it was also because it was Cain, and Steven had been involved behind the scenes; otherwise, Joseph Stone would not have handed over something so valuable. (Translator: After all, he also hopes Vivian will recover the investment!)
But Team Flare, at that time, had handed over several hundred Mega Stones all at once. Who knew whether among them there were several pseudo-legendary Mega Stones.
And in fact, there were. Steven's Metagross Mega Stone had come precisely from among them.
Since Mega Evolution was announced, more than a month had already passed. Pokémon researchers within the League had devoted all their efforts to studying it, and gradually, information entries for several Mega Stones had been published.
At that point, more than twenty Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution had already been discovered, and among them were quite a few of Cain's Pokémon.
Whoosh!
A figure dressed in a black hooded robe appeared inside the office.
The sudden appearance of that silhouette startled everyone. All of them stood up abruptly and adopted defensive stances, while the sound of chairs scraping against the floor rang out one after another.
But unlike them, the black-clad figure walked naturally forward and sat directly in the first seat to the right of Flare, crossing one leg over the other.
"Sit, sit. There is no need to give me such a grand welcome; it makes me feel embarrassed."
Cain waved lightly toward everyone, signaling that such courtesy was unnecessary and that they should sit down.
Hearing his words, several of them widened their eyes. They almost could not restrain their anger and were on the verge of rolling up their sleeves and going straight to hit him.
"Haha, Mr. Kaelus is still very courteous. Everyone sit down, do not get agitated over something so insignificant."
The only person who remained as calm and seated as Cain was Lysandre.
He greeted him with a smile and then gestured for everyone to sit and talk.
With a leader like this, everyone felt completely helpless.
But there was nothing they could do. After all, Lysandre was the only person they truly respected and obeyed, the banner of Lysandre Labs, the person who had led them from being mere individual researchers to reaching where they were today.
Moreover, it was not as though Cain had contributed nothing to Team Flare. At the very least, the very fact that Team Flare had been able to establish itself had much to do with this deputy leader.
Not to mention that throughout everything, he had also given Lysandre quite a few suggestions and ideas, helping Team Flare develop better.
For example, it was precisely because of Cain's recommendation that Malva, the person Team Flare had managed to infiltrate into the League's ranks and who now already held a position within the Elite Four, had been able to reach that position.
Even so, to be honest, they still found it difficult to accept the fact that Cain had taken several hundred Mega Stones all at once.
"For certain reasons, I have been absent for quite a long time, so I truly feel quite embarrassed. But from what I see, everyone has been doing very well during this period."
"Our Team Flare has already grown to the point of covering almost the entire Kalos region, and that would not have been possible without the efforts of all of you."
Cain swept his gaze across everyone present and spoke with a smile.
"Humph. If we had not lost those hundreds of Mega Stones, we would probably be doing even better now. We might not even have to worry about research funding."
Xerosic spoke in a blatantly sarcastic tone.
(End of chapter)