Without the aid of rainy weather, Amber naturally stood no chance against Cain.
Even so, his strength was still respectable, managing to cause some trouble for Cain's Pokémon.
But the outcome was no surprise.
After defeating Amber—one of Team Aqua's three Executives—and having captured Shelly, another of the three, Cain had already dismantled more than half of Archie's subordinates.
"Later, you'll leave directly from here. I'll send you a location; go there and take control of Team Aqua's underwater base. There should still be plenty of members left. Recruit selectively; the specific criteria and details, you'll decide yourself," Cain told Shelly, who stood beside him.
Before this, he had already ordered his system to steer Team Aqua's vessel to another area of the ocean. Now, only Cain knew its exact location.
In addition, the system had taken full control of the ship's main computer—no one could access any functions without Cain's authorization.
Upon hearing this, Shelly was taken aback. "Sir... was it you who deactivated the ship's self-destruction system?"
Cain nodded with a smile. "A submarine base that good would be a waste to destroy. Besides, it holds many of Team Aqua's resources—and even those abandoned members are valuable assets. I hope you can keep everything under control."
"Yes, sir!" Shelly replied without hesitation.
The closer she got to Cain, the less she felt she truly understood him.
At first, she had believed he was just a young Pokémon League prodigy who had later become one of Hoenn's Elite Four.
As a member of Team Aqua, she naturally feared the Elite Four, but not excessively—after all, they simply stood on opposite sides.
However, the prophetic vision Cain had shown her continued to replay in her mind day after day.
Only now did she realize that Cain's preparations went far beyond what she could have imagined, and that she herself was merely a relatively important piece in his plan.
With control of Team Aqua's base ship and the task of gathering its scattered members, could it be that Cain intended to replace Archie as Team Aqua's leader?
But as a member of the Elite Four, trusted by both Chairman Juan and Elite Four Drake, the League clearly had much more to offer him. There was no reason for betrayal.
Unable to make sense of it, Shelly decided not to think about it further. The best she could do was focus on completing her mission.
After giving her instructions, Cain escorted her out of the dimensional space and, unnoticed by anyone, left her at the entrance of the underwater cave.
As a member of Team Aqua, moving underwater was no problem for her.
Once Shelly departed silently, Cain and his Pokémon returned to the cave's interior.
At that moment, Drake was fighting with all his might. Neither Archie nor Matt—working together—could pose any real threat to him.
Moreover, Drake had brought along his old companion: Alpha Salamence, a Dragon-type Pokémon even stronger than Cain's Kommo-o.
And since Archie had abandoned several of his Pokémon back in Meteor Falls to save himself, his current strength was far less than before.
As for Matt, his power was on par with that of Shelly and Amber—perhaps comparable to the one Cain had fought earlier—and thus no match for Drake; he only served as a distraction.
So what Cain saw upon his return was Drake completely dominating the battle.
His arrival provoked different reactions from the three.
Drake smiled in satisfaction: according to their plan, he was supposed to take on Archie and one Executive, capable of defeating them in reasonable time if he went all out. Cain only needed to hold off the other two.
That was why Drake was fighting so fiercely. But he hadn't expected Cain to have already finished off his two opponents ahead of schedule.
In contrast, Archie and Matt's expressions turned grim. They had held out this long only because they believed Amber and Shelly together could defeat Cain; once free, the four of them would surround and crush Drake.
They had never imagined such a disastrous outcome.
"Master, I'm here to help!" Cain shouted, leaping into the battle with his Pokémon.
Upon seeing him approach, Archie and Matt's expressions changed drastically. They had already been unable to match Drake; with Cain joining in, all hope of resistance vanished.
Archie's face darkened.
Before him was Kyogre—so close he could almost touch it. In his hand, he held the Blue Orb, the key to awakening it. His lifelong dream was within reach, yet those two men stood in his way.
Beside him, Matt was already thinking about retreat. "Boss, as long as the forest stands, there'll always be firewood to burn. Let's fall back now!" he urged anxiously.
But Archie didn't listen. His face twisted with rage and madness as a strange voice echoed in his mind: "Awaken Kyogre now! Once you awaken it, all your enemies will turn to dust!"
His already unstable mind finally snapped under the pressure. That phrase was the final straw.
"As long as I awaken Kyogre, all of you will die!" he roared.
With frenzied determination, he ordered all his Pokémon to protect him with their lives and launched a suicidal assault to break through.
And it had to be admitted: a berserk Archie was hard to stop.
Willing to die, he didn't care about sacrificing his Pokémon, whereas Drake couldn't bring himself to fight with such ruthlessness. That difference created an opening, which Archie seized to break the defense line and hurl himself into the glowing blue pool.
Matt, witnessing the scene, took advantage of the chaos to flee with his Pokémon. The situation had already spiraled beyond his control.
As soon as Archie plunged into the water, Drake and Cain subdued all of his remaining Pokémon.
They were powerful creatures; they couldn't be left free and had to be handed over to the League for confinement.
"Master..." Cain said, approaching Drake as both of them stared at the now-turbulent blue lake.
Drake's face tightened. "Notify the League. Kyogre may be awakening. Have all coastal cities prepare for possible tsunamis. And check on the status of Sidney and Glacia."
Cain nodded and activated his communicator to report the situation to Juan.
Kyogre's awakening was already inevitable—but humanity, and the Pokémon League, would not be defenseless against it.
After all, a freshly awakened Kyogre wouldn't yet be at its full power.
And the League also had cards of its own to play.
The lake's waves grew increasingly violent. A massive shadow began to rise from the depths.
Drake's face grew even more severe. "Get ready! If we can't hold our ground, we retreat immediately. This... is Kyogre's domain!"
(End of Chapter)