When Cain once again left the island accompanied by his Pokémon, the small island, Cain's Pokémon, and even Cain himself had all undergone a monumental change.
Half a year had passed, and whether because of a summons or not, it was already time to depart.
This time, he was leaving due to Juan's call.
Riding atop the imposing Salamence, the Elite Four level was instantly revealed to the world.
Now people knew that when a Salamence appeared, it did not necessarily mean it was the Dragon-type Elite Four, Drake; it could also be the Elite Four of the Sandstorm: Cain!
Hoenn League headquarters, conference room.
This was the first meeting Cain attended since returning to the Hoenn League. Sitting in his designated seat, upon seeing the resentful gazes of Sidney and Glacia, he immediately understood everything.
They were silently reproaching him: that guy who occupied so many important positions had disappeared for a full half year.
And not only them; nearly half of the people present in the room looked at him with unfriendly eyes.
That bastard! He dumped all the work on everyone else and went off alone to live a carefree life.
There had already been many high-level League meetings that he had not attended, indirectly torturing his subordinates and colleagues.
For example, Steven, representative of the Pokémon Research Department and current Chief-level Researcher, sitting directly below Cain, looked at him with such bitterness that anyone would think he was a resentful wife.
There was no way around it. Juan and Drake had handed over the pending special missions of the Pokémon Research Department to him, and he, in turn, had passed them all to Steven.
He even had the audacity to say it was for training him. During these six months, Steven had been running around everywhere and had even gotten very tanned. In the end, Cain had become the fairest-skinned person in the entire conference room.
Including many women seated there.
Juan sensed that the atmosphere in the room was strange, but he did not stop it. On the contrary, he seemed to enjoy letting Cain suffer ten minutes under those burning gazes.
Of course, although Cain also felt somewhat embarrassed, he did not show it on his face in the slightest.
A joke? How could he show weakness now? If he gave in, how could he continue delegating work in the future without scruples?
He comforted himself internally...
This is for their own good. I am training them. One day they will understand, and then they will thank me.
He did not know how much he truly believed his own words, but the more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself.
The others, seeing Cain become calmer and more composed, showed expressions of deep astonishment.
How could someone so shameless exist?!
"Ahem..." Juan finally could not endure it any longer and coughed to announce the start of the meeting.
That kid had already fully tempered his thick skin; confronting him with stares alone was useless.
"Cain, it has been more than six months since you became an Elite Four member. Although you are very famous in Hoenn and even throughout the League, you have acted very little in public. I hope you will participate in the Elite Four Exhibition Tour." Juan directly opened the topic.
Although he had informally allowed Cain to be absent, he could not bear the blame for him. That was why he brought him up as an example from the very beginning, also so that everyone could see it.
Look, I am not Cain's accomplice. The one covering for him is Drake... too bad Drake is absent even more often than Cain and has not even returned.
Hearing this, Cain's face twisted. "President, the Exhibition Tour isn't really necessary, is it? It consumes too much time and doesn't even allow my strength to be truly measured. I think it would be better if you let me participate in the Hoenn League as an exhibition."
"The Hoenn League was a complete success this year; Miss Glacia worked extremely hard. I can't divert attention from the event now, right? If I appear at the end of the tournament to give a demonstration, it will be just as effective."
Cain tried to justify himself from every possible angle, explaining that performing at the Hoenn League had far more advantages than going on tour.
Moreover, there would be more spectators, and it would avoid traveling everywhere.
Therefore...
"Perfect!" Juan interrupted him and accepted with a smile halfway through the explanation.
With an expression of you've convinced me, well done.
"..."
Cain instantly understood. Juan had dug a pit for him and, fearing that he might not jump in, had prepared an even bigger hole next to it. Everything was done to force him to choose the original trap of his own free will.
Seeing the suppressed laughter of those present, he knew that the only one fooled was himself... and worse still, proud of his "choice"!
He almost slapped his own "handsome" face. But words spoken were like spilled water; they could not be taken back.
"Then it's settled. Now let's talk about the announcement made by the Kanto region yesterday." Juan's face turned serious.
Cain also regained his composure. This was the matter that concerned him the most since he had set out.
Yesterday, the Kanto League submitted a request to the World League: to divide the Kanto region using Mt. Silver as the boundary, separating it into the Eastern Kanto Region and the Western Kanto Region. Then they considered that "Western Region" sounded bad and finally used the commonly spoken name: Johto!
The matter was not yet public; only the upper echelons of each region knew about it.
If it were announced prematurely, the consequences could be enormous. And the World League had only just received the proposal; there was no decision yet.
The reason Cain took it so seriously was the timing.
According to the original development, Kanto would indeed be divided, but not now.
Doing it at this point would generate many side effects that would affect (to a greater or lesser extent) all regions.
"No wonder Lance, who was planning to carry out an Elite Four Tour across multiple regions, stopped right now."
"This is cutting a huge cake into two parts. And not only did the number of people who want to eat it not decrease, it increased. Many who were only smelling the aroma are already eager to take a bite," Joseph Stone suddenly said.
As a veteran politician, his vision was very clear.
"In my opinion, whether Kanto is divided or not, the impact on Hoenn exists, but it is not large. What really interests me is how the World League plans to deal with Team Rocket if they decide to provoke sudden disturbances," Cain added with a firm stance.
No matter what they do, as long as they do not meddle with the Hoenn region, it does not matter too much.
The division of Kanto was not good news for Team Rocket, but Cain did not believe that Giovanni would sit idly by and watch the League divide his power base. For Team Rocket, that would be an indirect form of restriction.
(End of chapter)