Little by little, as the battle progressed, Steven felt more and more surprised. He believed that he already knew his opponent well enough.
After all, this was not the first time he had encountered that Sacred Church trainer who liked to use Gengar and Weavile.
He himself had already run into him once before; Lance and Cynthia had also faced him once each. Even the belligerent Lance had engaged him in a small-scale battle. Although he did not achieve a victory, he managed to get a good grasp of the opponent's situation and overall level of strength.
That was why, when Steven realized it was that same person, he decided to counterattack without hesitation. Lance had not used his full strength and still ended up in a fairly even draw. This time, Steven was determined to attack with everything from the very beginning, making Mawile mega evolve immediately.
Attacking with Mega Mawile meant that the opponent most likely did not know its characteristics.
Mega Mawile was one of those Pokémon whose strength changed drastically after Mega Evolution, but before that, the number of trainers who liked to use Mawile could be counted on one hand.
However, for some unknown reason, this battle gave Steven the feeling that his opponent knew him quite well, and even seemed to thoroughly understand Mega Mawile's characteristics.
Every time Steven felt that victory was assured — that as long as Weavile was hit by an attack from Mega Mawile, with the Huge Power ability added to the boost from Swords Dance — he was convinced that that Weavile, whose defense was not particularly strong, would be seriously injured or even lose the ability to continue fighting.
But just when he thought the opponent had no escape and would be crushed without remedy, something always happened "coincidentally at just the right moment" that allowed him to avoid Mega Mawile's strongest explosion. It was like throwing a punch with all one's strength... and feeling it strike cotton.
At that moment, hidden beneath the cloak, Cain observed Steven's seemingly calm expression. Although he was trying to remain composed, part of the surprise within him clearly leaked through his gaze.
Of course, Cain knew all of Mega Mawile's characteristics, perhaps even better than Steven himself, its trainer.
They normally trained together. Several people constantly faced one another to hone their tactics, so Cain knew Steven's and the others' strategies with extreme clarity. He knew perfectly well when Steven intended to do something, and could even guess what kind of trap lay hidden behind each action of his Pokémon.
Under those circumstances, how could Steven possibly defeat a member of the Sacred Church who was actually Cain in disguise?
In fact, if Cain were to remove the disguise and fight Steven openly, the battle would not be so simple. Steven knew very well that Cain was deeply familiar with his tactics, so if he knew his opponent was Cain, he would undoubtedly use new strategies. In that case, Cain would not have it so easy.
But the current situation was that Cain was in the shadows and Steven was out in the open. And the only one testing new tactics was Cain.
Or rather, he was using this battle to gradually familiarize himself with Bartram's combat style. It was something he had to do in order to infiltrate the Sacred Church.
Fortunately, even after the partial removal of memories, the key aspects were still preserved in Cain's mind.
Becoming another person was not something simple. The fewer cracks one wanted to leave behind, the more necessary it was to understand and imitate the target.
Poor Steven, without knowing it, had become Cain's test subject.
For now, the results were quite good. At the very least, Steven — one of the people who knew Cain best — had not detected too many anomalies in the person fighting him.
However, from the beginning of the battle up to that point, due to the clear tactical disadvantage and because his hidden cards had been silently neutralized, Steven had gradually fallen into a passive position.
That caused his expression to grow increasingly grim.
In his eyes, the man before him was a "bastard" capable of killing without batting an eye. If he made the slightest mistake and the opponent seized the opportunity, it was very possible that there would be no turning back.
Suddenly, Steven recalled the words Cain repeated to him every day.
If you can't even guarantee your own safety, then there's no point in talking about "chivalry."
And even more so when facing members of the Sacred Church, people who showed no kindness whatsoever. With such people, there was no reason to hold back.
Steven clenched his teeth. Although it went against the values of chivalry he had learned since childhood, that chivalry was for ladies and for those who also possessed it, not for villains.
The best way to face a villain... was to be even more ruthless than him.
So, after giving another order, Steven turned his palm, and two Poké Balls discreetly appeared.
That scene, of course, did not go unnoticed by Cain. Rather than surprise, what he felt was satisfaction.
Finally!
Finally he had lured this boy to the Dark Side...!
No, wait! Finally he had pulled him out of his comfort zone!
With a thought, Cain had Mega Gengar and Weavile launch a coordinated attack and then quickly retreat, appearing at his side.
Steven's two new summons failed to intercept them in time.
It had been a long time since Weavile had enjoyed a battle like today's. It felt that after reaching the Champion level, it was finally unleashing all of its true power.
As for Gengar, although it had been holding back, that allowed it to familiarize itself with the changes in strength after its advancement. Although the impact was not as great as with Weavile, it also gained considerable benefits.
Cain observed with a "satisfied" smile Steven, who had summoned two more Pokémon, determined to keep him there at all costs.
In the next instant, Cain's body began to sink slowly, as if merging with the shadow. The same happened to Weavile and Gengar, which had already canceled its Mega Evolution.
Steven frowned as he watched that member of the Sacred Church slowly disappear, without having a good method to stop him.
He knew he had failed at the moment of summoning and that his methods had not been stealthy enough, allowing the opponent to notice in advance. Otherwise, with four Pokémon surrounding the enemy, there was a high probability of defeating one of them first and gradually tipping the balance in his favor.
But since the opponent had already escaped, Steven did not pursue him. He did not know how to, either.
Even so, that battle made one thing clear to him: the members of the Sacred Church were not as simple as they imagined. It was very possible that they, too, were hiding their true strength, with the goal of carefully evaluating their opponents' capabilities.
Upon realizing this, Steven felt uneasy and wanted to inform Cain, Lance, and the others as soon as possible, to prevent them from falling into a trap when confronting the Sacred Church.
At the same time, he also understood that his current strength was still not enough to carry out the plan of eliminating the church's members one by one and wearing them down gradually.
(End of chapter)