Cain directly picked up the small Carbink and held it in his arms.
Under Carbink's confused gaze, he gently placed it into that hole.
Carbink didn't know what Cain was intending. But its confusion quickly disappeared. Because it immediately felt a huge amount of Rock-type energy begin to violently flow into its body.
Even Aggron, who was standing to the side, also sensed a massive, unrestricted surge of Rock-type energy.
Just by breathing, he was already absorbing large amounts.
The rate of growth was much faster than usual during training.
Both Pokémon instantly understood Cain's intention.
That block of stone they were originally going to share among the three of them had ended up being completely absorbed by Pupitar during his evolution.
This was Cain's way of compensating them.
Although the energy concentration here didn't surpass that of those blocks, it wasn't much lower either.
At that moment, Tyranitar's body was already saturated with energy he could no longer absorb, so continuing wasn't beneficial to him.
But for Carbink and Aggron, that wasn't a problem.
"Carbink, you've probably already realized that your body is undergoing an irreversible transformation," Cain explained bluntly. "The energy you're absorbing now—don't use it to increase your power. Instead, try to accelerate your transformation process."
"Only if you manage to complete that mutation will you be able to show your true value, and both I and your species will gain great benefits."
Upon hearing these words, Carbink nodded firmly, without hesitation.
It also wanted to know what it would become after completing its transformation.
"Aggron, you stay here too and absorb energy with Carbink," Cain continued. "But don't absorb it recklessly. Try to compress it to a certain degree before integrating it into your body."
"Don't allow excessive absorption to damage the solidity of your foundation."
"Grahhh!" Aggron growled in response, focused.
And he began to absorb and compress the energy with full concentration.
Seeing them enter that state, Cain didn't leave either. He sat down next to them.
At that moment, Carbink's mutation was already in an advanced stage.
Once all its diamonds turned pink, its body would begin to change.
Ever since it absorbed energy from the pond and the mutation process accelerated, Cain had realized something: Carbink was already capable of controlling the speed of its mutation.
Of course, it couldn't reverse it—only regulate its pace.
But that was more than enough.
Only Cain knew what Carbink would become after its transformation—what kind of Pokémon it would turn into.
Silently, he watched the mutation percentage on the system scan.
The Xerneas's Horn was also still actively doing its work.
...
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Cain remained in the Tyranitar valley with his Pokémon during that time.
Over those three days, Tyranitar trained with the group's leader and the other Tyranitar, learning battle techniques.
They were techniques that the clan had perfected over years, especially suited for their species.
Tyranitar showed great talent and learned a lot from them.
Now, he just needed time to fully absorb and master those skills.
Carbink and Aggron also came out from the corner of the valley where they had been training.
After all, their bodies weren't bottomless pits—they couldn't absorb energy indefinitely.
But they had reached the limit of what they could take in.
At that moment, all of Carbink's diamonds had already turned a pink hue.
Cain thought the diamonds that were falling off it at that point were probably already pink diamonds.
Though he didn't know if eating them would have better effects than regular diamonds.
Finally, there was Aggron, who was in the middle of the valley training physically with great intensity.
He was doing squats with a huge rock on his back.
He wasn't alone: Tyranitar was with him.
Both Pokémon, Tyranitar (level 58) and Aggron (level 56), had a large amount of Rock-type energy in their bodies.
They needed to use physical methods to speed up its absorption.
At that point, Cain's three Rock-type Pokémon had reached a bottleneck.
They could no longer progress quickly in a short time. What lay ahead was continuous and methodical work.
That is, at that moment, Cain could no longer improve much more within that space.
Unless he explored the unknown space below.
And as if fate knew it, just when Cain felt he had reached his limit, a spatial rift suddenly opened near him.
He didn't know why, but he had the hunch that Celebi would come looking for them at that very moment.
Cain called his Pokémon. Except for Slowking, Gengar, and Tyranitar, the others were returned to their Poké Balls.
Tyranitar had known for a long time that this moment would come.
At that instant, he was saying farewell to the leader and the entire Tyranitar clan.
During those days, not only had Tyranitar learned a lot, but Cain had also taught the group new skills for daily life.
Like how to use water resources more efficiently.
Or how to prepare tastier food.
"Well? Finished saying your goodbyes?" Cain asked with a smile, seeing Tyranitar approach with a slightly melancholic expression.
Tyranitar nodded.
The moment he lifted his head, that sadness had completely vanished, replaced by a determined gaze.
Cain gave him a pat on the arm as a gesture of encouragement.
As the Tyrant of the Sandstorm, he had to return to the Pokémon world with an imposing and sovereign attitude.
Together with him and Slowking, with Gengar hidden in his shadow, they crossed the spatial rift.
As soon as Cain passed through, the rift behind him closed as if someone zipped it shut.
"Cele~!"
Before he could even look around at the new environment, Celebi appeared before him, with an expression that clearly said: "Praise me!"
Cain didn't know why Celebi was so close to him.
Maybe it was because of the presence of Lugia's or Mew's energy in his body.
Or maybe, in some timeline, they had already met before.
Whatever the reason, the truth was that Cain had benefited greatly.
"Thank you, Celebi."
"Cele~!"
Celebi was so happy to hear Cain's thanks that it started spinning in circles in the air.
It waved its little hands, and two spatial rifts opened once again in front of Cain.
Without much waiting, two people were suddenly ejected from one of them.
It was Steven and Phoebe!
But their appearances left much to be desired.
Steven's elegant suit was covered in dust and had several holes.
Phoebe's face and body were also full of dust, and even had some wounds on her arms.
Even so, their eyes shone brightly.
Clearly, they had also gained great benefits.
Next to Steven was his Shiny Metagross, while beside Phoebe floated a powerful Dusknoir.
Both Pokémon had reached a new level of power.
(End of chapter)