Finally, Lance and Cynthia, who could no longer keep dragging the matter out, lifted Steven off Cain.
Although during the latter part Cain used psychic power to protect himself, he had taken the first few punches head-on.
So now Cain's appearance... emmm.
It was a little miserable.
"Hahahaha!"
Seeing Cain's appearance after he got up, everyone could not help bursting into laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Even Steven, after venting all the frustration accumulated during this year, now also began laughing loudly together with everyone.
Quite a while passed before the oppression in everyone's hearts was relieved, and they brought the matter back to the main topic.
"So, Cain, do you mean that you thought we didn't have the ability to bear so much, and that's why you didn't tell us about this matter?" Lance asked.
Cain waved his hands repeatedly.
"It'sh not that I didn't trusht you guysh..."
Cain admitted that his mouth seemed to be a little swollen, and air leaked out when he spoke.
Seeing the way Cain spoke, everyone once again burst into laughter.
It had been a very long time since such frank laughter had appeared among them.
"Speak like a normal person!" Steven looked at Cain helplessly.
His face was full of helplessness.
Cain took a special medicinal spray from his pocket and, combining it with his own psychic power, gave the wounds on his face a simple treatment.
In his heart, he could not help feeling somewhat speechless.
Since he had created this medicine, he had basically never used it. He did not expect that, on the summit of Mt. Chimney, under an atmosphere like this, he would end up using this spray.
But what Cain produced was always of top quality.
The effect was quite good. In less than a minute, the swelling on his face began to disappear, and finally he could speak normally.
"Cough, cough. What I am saying is that I was not looking down on you. Only, do you think your acting ability is as good as my master's?"
"That gaze with which he looked at me, that expression of hating that he could not turn iron into steel, really affected me a lot. At that moment, even I almost thought it was real," Cain said, rubbing his face with a serious expression.
His two eyes looked directly at them without blinking, as if the only thing missing was for him to write the three words "believe me" on his face.
Thock!
Old Matsuda, who had walked over, directly gave Cain a knock on the head.
"Stinking brat, you still have the face to say that? What do you mean my acting ability is strong?"
"When I learned from the Elder's mouth that you were actually a member of Team Rocket and that you had been deceiving me all this time, this old man even had the urge to carry out justice even if it meant destroying his own disciple."
"Where was I acting? That was clearly an expression of true feelings!"
Old Matsuda's saliva sprayed directly onto Cain's face.
Cain did not dare refute anything, only nodded nonstop right there.
Seeing this appearance of Cain, everyone's mood improved quite a lot.
However, the expressions of the League presidents were not as optimistic as those of these young League Champions. On their faces, to a greater or lesser extent, some worry could be seen.
"What is it? Presidents, if there is still something you do not understand or something you are worried about, you can say it. Perhaps I can help you resolve it," Cain asked.
Several League presidents exchanged glances. In the end, it was Juan, the one most familiar with Cain, who asked, "Cain, although eliminating those families on a large scale is very satisfying, one has to admit that those large and small families were also part of the League's strength and had countless ties with it."
"Doing this undoubtedly eliminates the hidden dangers of the next several decades, even of the next hundred years of the League. But what should the League do during this period?"
"After all, the decrease in strength is obvious."
Cain nodded. He also understood what Juan and the others were worried about.
After all, when eliminating those families, not everyone was inside their families. There would always be some people training outside, or some occupying positions within the League.
When those people learned that their families had been destroyed, what they would think, what they would do, all of that was something Juan and the others needed to consider.
"In reality, President Juan, those things are not something you need to worry about. The one who did this was Team Rainbow Rocket, and the one who obtained the main benefits was also Team Rainbow Rocket."
"The people who remain will only have two possibilities: either, after losing the support of their families, they will sink into the crowd and no longer constitute a threat."
"Or they will strive with determination, work hard to improve their strength with the intention of taking revenge. But even so, the one they will be aiming at will be Team Rainbow Rocket, not the League. They could even, to a certain extent, raise the League's strength."
"And there is an even more important point. Apart from everyone present here, no one knows why Team Rainbow Rocket did what it did. Therefore, you only need to put all of this on Team Rainbow Rocket."
"Moreover, although the League's strength has truly decreased, nothing dangerous will happen either. Have you forgotten who now holds power in Team Rainbow Rocket?"
Cain had already explained it clearly enough.
These presidents were simply too worried to think clearly. They had not reacted to the fact that, from this moment today, the Pokémon League not only no longer had hidden dangers, but also had no true enemies, because Team Rainbow Rocket was also already under the League's control.
"Then, what do you plan to do with this Team Rainbow Rocket? Integrate it into the League? Or leave it there as it is?" Juan asked again.
"Very simple. Preserve Team Rainbow Rocket's existence. Moreover, it is necessary for it to exist."
"There is a very well-known saying: one is born in adversity and dies in comfort. If there is no external pressure, the League's strength will not only fail to become stronger, but will become weaker and weaker."
"And what we must do is make people aware that a threat exists, a threat that from time to time will cause important damage to the entire League. If they want to resist it, they will have to constantly become stronger."
Cain spoke with great certainty. This was the experience he had obtained over all these years.
"Moreover, when the forces of both sides are under our control, are the scale of the disasters that occur and the impact they cause not also under our control?"
"Also, through the experiment I carried out in the Hoenn region, I was able to know that, by completely controlling Team Heaven and the Hoenn League, I could even make the crime rate of the entire region drop in a straight line, reducing unnecessary losses."
"The most important point is that, with Team Rainbow Rocket existing on the dark side of the Pokémon world, the emergence of dark forces that are not under our control can be contained. Only in this way can the entire Pokémon world truly be considered within the range we can control."
(End of chapter)