"Lance?" Seeing who had arrived, Cain let out a sigh of relief.
Cain trusted Lance, a legitimate and well-regarded mber of the Alliance.
"Cain, Steven," Lance nodded, approaching with his Charizard.
When Lance arrived at the location where Cain and Steven had sent their coordinates, he encountered two Team Magma mbers tied up at the entrance.
As an Advanced Investigator of the Alliance, Lance quickly assigned other investigators from the Hoenn region to provide support.
Then he entered directly. He knew Cain and Steven would be inside, facing an opponent with strength close to that of a quasi-elite-level trainer. Knowing their skills, he guessed they might still fall a bit short of handling it alone.
Just as he was about to intervene, he decided to wait a little, curious to see how Cain and Steven would handle the situation.
What he saw surprised him: there was a fluctuation of psychic energy between Cain and Steven!
A psychic?
The records of the Alliance contained detailed information on Steven, so the psychic had to be Cain, right?
A mid-level Breeder and, on top of that, a psychic! Such an ability wasn’t common, even within the Alliance.
Initially, Lance only wanted to observe, but seeing Cain and Steven about to face Butler, he decided he’d step in if they couldn’t hold their own.
But what happened next impressed him even more.
Cain and Steven, working in perfect harmony, managed to defeat a quasi-elite-level Carupt in an environnt full of Fire-type energy! It was like fighting on Carupt’s ho turf, and yet they won.
Although the Carupt lost control toward the end, it was still a quasi-elite-level Pokémon.
As a quasi-elite-level trainer himself, Lance knew exactly what that entailed.
He could tell the skills Cain and Steven demonstrated in this battle changed his perception of them.
Although Lance had always been regarded as a prodigy and soone close to the Alliance’s leaders, deep down, he still carried his pride.
Coming from a family of dragon tars and mastering Dragon-type Pokémon only fueled that pride further.
But the fight between Cain and Steven earned his respect.
They were trainers whose potential was no less than his own. With enough ti and developnt, they would undoubtedly beco pillars of the Alliance.
However, Lance also felt a small sense of disappointnt. There was still a certain gap between them, making it impossible to face them as equals at the mont.
"How did you get here so quickly?" Cain asked.
Between the two, Cain was the more familiar with Lance, as they had t and spoken before.
Hearing this, Lance smiled wryly and rubbed his temples. "Well, it’s because you two are too important. When the Alliance’s upper managent heard what was happening, they quickly called a eting! Only you two would dare to ignore their ssages and take on Team Magma mbers on your own."
That was true boldness.
They had simply ignored the Alliance’s top brass.
Cain laughed awkwardly. At the ti, he hadn’t thought much about it and, in fact, hadn’t even responded, right?
Looking at his phone, he realized it had shut down due to the heat as a safety asure.
Steven, on the other hand, seed unconcerned. The Hoenn upper managent? His family, the Stones, represented almost half of the region.
What was there to fear?
Ignoring ssages from his family was normal for him. Who knew if they just wanted him to handle more paperwork?
That was the influence the Stone family wielded in Hoenn.
Lance, who had so idea of this, continued, "When they realized the strongest opponent had the level of a quasi-elite trainer, I ca alone. I’ve been in Hoenn for several days, and all the enemies I’ve encountered were minor. This ti, there was finally one worth the effort, so I rushed over, but I didn’t expect..."
He didn’t expect you to handle it.
Cain was quite familiar with Lance’s mobility skills—after all, he would be the future Champion of Flying-types... well, Dragons.
"What do we do with them?" Steven asked, pointing to the three Team Magma mbers on the ground.
Cain and Steven exchanged glances. Although they had doubts about the uncontrollable state of the Pokémon, involving an Alliance Investigator was the proper procedure.
Finally, Cain spoke. "Alright, Lance, there’s sothing we need to tell you. During the battle, you probably noticed that Carupt went out of control."
"When we were climbing the mountain, we had already encountered out-of-control Pokémon, and we believe it’s related to these guys. If Team Magma has developed this capability..."
Cain didn’t finish his sentence, but Lance understood what he ant. If Team Magma had the ability to induce that kind of chaos, the threat level would increase significantly.
"I understand. Also... Cain, you...?" Lance hesitated for a mont before asking.
Cain smiled, knowing what Lance was referring to: his psychic abilities.
"As you saw, I’m a basic-level psychic. My ability isn’t very strong, and what we accomplished was largely thanks to Slowking and tagross. I’m not sure if I’ll improve in the future, but for now, I’m just a basic-level psychic."
Cain openly acknowledged being a psychic. He had already decided to make it public when he told Steven.
After all, if he couldn’t use that ability, what was the point of being a psychic?
And being a psychic was just another proof of his greater talent as a trainer.
As long as he continued progressing, the Alliance would increase its support resources.
That was exactly what he wanted.
It was a small risk compared to the reward.
Lance nodded, understanding. It was unusual but not unheard of. After all, hadn’t he reached his position thanks to his own special ability?
The fact that Cain was a psychic, in Lance’s mind, was more of an advantage than a disadvantage.
Though psychics were a distinct group, was there anyone else with the Power of the Viridian Forest?
Lance fell into thought.
(End of Chapter)
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