Cain was searching for the special marks of the Shadow Unit in the forest.
Although he had never carried out a mission for the Shadow Unit, Cain had learned the basics.
After carefully searching, he found a Shadow Unit mark at the base of a large tree.
Cain completely changed his attire, pulling out his signature black cloak and putting it on. He then withdrew all his Pokémon, leaving only Honchkrow at his side, while Haunter hid in his shadow.
Following the direction of the marks, Cain walked with Honchkrow.
Perhaps for the sake of discretion, after several twists and turns, Cain noticed that many of the marks were unnecessary. He could have walked a straight path, but whoever made the marks had placed them at various points.
Was it to avoid being discovered? Or was it simply a Shadow Unit habit? Or maybe they were toying with him?
Cain remained alert to these possibilities.
Finally, after following the marks, Cain arrived at the entrance of a cave.
According to the marks, the person he was supposed to et was inside the cave.
However, upon reaching the entrance, Cain didn’t enter imdiately. Instead, he frowned.
Under other circumstances, he might not have noticed, but Cain had improved his psychic abilities to the level of a beginner psychic.
He could now expand his psychic power, perceiving many details that previously went unnoticed.
Cain noticed an extrely thin thread at the cave entrance, sothing almost impossible to detect with the naked eye without a detailed observation aided by his psychic abilities.
Even with his experience, without his psychic observation, Cain wouldn’t have discovered the thread.
The presence of this thread could an several things.
Most likely, the person he was supposed to et was inside but had left the thread as a precaution to detect soone entering and react accordingly.
But there was also the possibility that the thread would trigger a trap, setting off a series of events if touched.
Around him, Cain didn’t see anything unusual, which only heightened his sense of alertness.
Instead of entering, Cain used his psychic ability to slightly move the thread.
He waited silently for three seconds, and nothing happened.
Just as Cain began to think he was being paranoid, an explosion echoed inside the cave, starting at the entrance and moving inward.
The ssage was clear: block the entrance to prevent anyone from escaping, and then detonate explosives inside to trap whoever was inside.
Even with a Pokémon capable of using Teleport, the intensity of the explosion would make locating spatial coordinates difficult, rendering escape nearly impossible.
Two seconds later, the cave completely collapsed.
Cain’s face darkened.
If he had entered and accidentally triggered the thread, he would have been caught in the explosion.
Even with his beginner-level psychic abilities and the presence of Honchkrow and Haunter, he likely wouldn’t have died, but he wouldn’t have escaped unscathed.
Whoever had prepared this trap had done so with the clear intention of attacking him.
Cain couldn’t understand why Umbra would send soone to try and kill him. What was the aning of this?
Cain waited silently for three minutes. A shadow appeared on the ground.
Cain looked up at the sky, seeing a person dressed in a black cloak similar to his own, mounted on a large dragonfly that was slowly descending toward the destroyed cave.
Cain’s eyes, dark as the night, began to glow with a murderous light.
It didn’t matter what this person’s purpose was or who had sent them.
The only thing Cain knew was that if he had been an ordinary person, that hidden trap would have killed him multiple tis over.
If soone tried to kill him, he wouldn’t care about the attacker’s identity.
After all, Cain was now a man half-chosen by Giovanni. No one below a high rank would have the authority to attack him.
Moreover, Cain had already reached the rank of Officer and was no longer the Team Rocket grunt anyone could trample on.
Without hiding his presence, Cain stood still, watching the man slowly descend from the back of the large dragonfly.
The system scanned the dragonfly’s data.
Pokémon: Yanga (Light Blue)
Gender: Male
Level: 39
Type: Bug Flying
Ability: Tinted Lens
Held Item: None
Egg Moves: Leech Life, Signal Beam, Feint Attack
Basic Moves: Bug Buzz, Air Slash, Night Slash, Bug Bite, Tackle, Foresight, Quick Attack, Double Team, Sonic Boom, Detect, Supersonic, Uproar, Pursuit, Ancient Power, Feint
Learned Moves: Bug Bite, Giga Drain, Snore
TM Moves: Protect, Hidden Power (Fire), Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Substitute
Cain narrowed his eyes as he observed Yanga’s data.
This Yanga had a fairly high level and potential, close to reaching the advanced level.
This ant the person before him had power close to that of a common Officer. It remained to be seen if Yanga was his strongest Pokémon or if he had others even more powerful.
The man in the black cloak slowly dismounted from Yanga’s back. He wore a Shadow Unit insignia on his chest but did not have the Team Rocket emblem.
In the Hoenn region, hostility toward Team Rocket was high, so avoiding the emblem was the prudent choice. Surely, this man thought the sa.
The man removed his hood, revealing a common middle-aged face with black hair and eyes. The only notable feature was a scar running across his face from the left cheek, over the bridge of the nose, to the right cheek, giving him a sinister look.
With a mocking expression, the man looked at Cain and said with a smile, "Well, I didn’t think that despite never having done Shadow Unit missions, you’d be so familiar with their marks. I thought it’d take you a whole day to find them."
"Did Umbra send you?" Cain ignored his mockery and responded coldly.
Honchkrow at his side tensed slightly. As the Pokémon that knew Cain best, it could sense the latent fury in his heart.
(End of Chapter)
User Comments
0 comments from readers