Watching Juan and the others leave, a smile appeared on Cain's face.
The death of the Black Messenger was one thing, but more importantly, Cain had heard that Lorelei had become one of the Elite Four of the Kanto region, and that her rise had been quite spectacular and full of ups and downs.
Since the last time, when Lance defeated her mercilessly in the Elite Four Challenge Tournament, for a woman—and a proud woman—that had been a very heavy blow, but one that also tempered her determination.
During Lance's exhibition tour as a member of the Elite Four, he encountered a problem in the first round: his opponent was Lorelei.
It was unknown whether Lorelei had been spurred on by her previous defeat, but she went all out and her strength increased enormously. This caused Lance, who had been planning to apologize gently and hold back a little, to nearly lose in an embarrassing manner.
From that moment on, in the six months during which Cain had disappeared, Lorelei challenged Lance eighteen times in a row!
Those spine-chilling eighteen consecutive battles allowed her to fully understand Lance's methods and strategies. Moreover, Ice-type Pokémon have a natural advantage against Dragon-type and Flying-type Pokémon, and Lance mainly used Pokémon of those two types, so in terms of attributes he was at an absolute disadvantage.
Although Lance was superior in pure strength, fighting against her was not easy.
In addition, thanks to Cain's reminder, Lance realized that he had gone too far in the tournament, so during those battles, whenever he could afford to give a little, he did so. In the end, almost all of his victories were by a very slim margin.
The Kanto League could no longer continue to ignore the situation.
In any case, Pryce only held the title and did nothing. So it was better to hand it directly over to Lorelei.
Moreover, both were Ice-type Pokémon trainers, which could also be seen as a kind of succession.
As for Pryce, he did not say much. He had long since stopped caring about the Elite Four title; the League had disappointed him time and again, and unless he could become Champion and completely change the atmosphere of Kanto, continuing to be one of the Elite Four held no meaning for him.
Thus, Lorelei finally became the new Elite Four of the Kanto region, while Lance successfully rose from being the weakest among the Elite Four of the Kanto region.
Just as Cain had imagined, the two officially became "close" colleagues.
One could imagine that during this time, Lance's life must have been quite "pleasant."
...
At that moment, in a dark room in Kanto, Mento—who was training his Pokémon—received an extremely special visitor.
He appeared out of nowhere without drawing anyone's attention. Upon entering, he did not say a single word; he simply took a chair, sat down, and took from his chest a black card with mysterious demonic patterns, as well as a new mask made of human skin.
Mento clearly was not seeing this man for the first time. With a cold expression, he sat opposite him and looked at the objects on the table before asking, "Why me?"
"Because only you are the most suitable, isn't that so?" the newcomer replied indifferently, crossing his legs.
A brief silence fell between them, as if each were waiting for the other to speak first.
In the end, Mento could not hold back: "What do I have to do?"
A smile appeared on the visitor's face.
"Do what a Black Messenger must do. I trust you will not disappoint me, and I will not disappoint you either. After the separation between Kanto and Johto, there will be a place for you among the Elite Four of Johto!"
"Do it well..."
After saying that, the figure of that man slowly faded from the seat, as if he had never been there.
Mento looked at the objects left on the table. Finally, he picked up the black card with demonic patterns: it represented the identity of a Black Messenger of the Sacred Church.
As for the human-skin mask, it was just an ordinary mask. Whether he used it or not was up to him.
He remained silent for a long time... the new Black Messenger...
...
Days later, Cain—now recovered—left the hospital room and returned to normal life, without those very comfortable days when everything was done for him.
He would not miss them.
After leaving, Cain briefly said goodbye to Juan and then directly left the headquarters of the Hoenn League.
Many things were happening within the League during that time, but Cain did not need to worry about any of it: he had left everything in the hands of others.
And once outside, for a moment he did not know what to do.
It was only when he sat on the back of his Salamence that he felt that, by delegating everything to others, he himself had been left with nothing to do.
So, like Steven, he took on some difficult commissions and set off once more.
For a period of time, Cain devoted himself to accepting relatively difficult missions in order to earn points, while training the newly strengthened youngsters.
Before long, Cain frequently appeared in front of the ordinary residents and trainers of Hoenn.
As the most popular Elite Four of Hoenn, Cain attracted a huge number of admirers thanks to his overwhelming strength and growing appeal.
The photos and videos circulating on the internet of the island shrouded in sandstorms became one of his representative feats.
Many analysts concluded—after multiple evaluations and even field investigations—that the island had likely been destroyed by the incredible power of Cain's Pokémon.
Of course, no one blamed him: there were no casualties, and Cain only unleashed his full power after making sure everyone had been evacuated.
Moreover, this indirectly proved that the enemy must have been very strong to force Cain to act with such intensity.
There were even people who recorded the moment when Juan carried the unconscious Cain after the battle.
Only a few days had passed and Cain was already out on another mission, which further increased the respect many had for him.
Many female fans, in fact, complained on social media that Cain should rest more and not push himself so hard.
The truth was that they did not know that Cain was enjoying every second.
As news continued to emerge of him capturing powerful criminals, many wrongdoers with criminal intentions lost their nerve, and the crime rate in the Hoenn region began to decline.
Numerous families and factions that lived off the gray market were also affected.
In addition, at Juan's instruction, Cain secretly contacted Rose, the deputy leader of Team Heaven, to once again remind her of the team's principles of action. Beyond that, he did not insist on getting involved.
With Rose's abilities, she should perfectly understand what Cain meant.
Meanwhile, Shelly led the remnants of the former Team Aqua to leave Team Heaven and head into the sea, reestablishing their old hideout as their base.
However, they were no longer called Team Aqua: they were now the Marine Division of Team Heaven.
To be honest, letting oneself oversee one's own faction is quite a strange feeling.
But in essence, Team Heaven's primary mission had always been to help Cain collect resources; conquering the world had never been in their plans.
A newly formed group could not afford to challenge the League's red line. As long as they stayed within their limits, the League would have no reason to bother them.
(End of chapter)