Seeing that the call had ended, Giovanni, relying solely on his own strength, crushed that special communicator into powder. From that gesture alone, one could see that Giovanni was not simply an ordinary human; at the very least, he possessed some unique personal ability.
"At first, I thought you were no longer around, and I found that somewhat regrettable. But now, this is becoming more and more interesting. Just as you never underestimated me, I have never underestimated you either," Giovanni murmured to himself.
...
After leaving the Team Rocket base in Viridian City, Cain did not stop for even a moment and returned directly to the Hoenn League at maximum speed.
In reality, he did not need to rush so urgently, but shortly after leaving the Team Rocket base, he received information from the Investigation Department of the League, which he had just taken charge of: the Sacred Church had reappeared in the Hoenn region.
That was why Cain returned to Hoenn as quickly as possible.
At the same time, in all major areas covered by the Pokémon League, members of the Sacred Church appeared simultaneously.
The trainers of the Sacred Church themselves already possessed considerable psychic power, and when combined with certain Psychic-type Pokémon and a special infusion of divine power, they became extremely difficult to deal with.
Even now, Cain still did not know what the Sacred Church's true objective was; they could only defend passively.
Such a situation was not favorable for the major Leagues, including the Hoenn League.
In reality, it was not that the people sent by the Sacred Church were truly that strong. The troublesome part was still their various special abilities and that teleportation that allowed them to come and go at will.
As long as they themselves did not wish to reveal themselves, it was very difficult for others to find them.
When Cain arrived in Hoenn, Drake and the others were once again fighting against the people of the Sacred Church, but compared to the previous time, the number of people the Sacred Church had sent was clearly smaller this time.
But being fewer did not mean they were not strong. Marcus alone forced Drake to confront him with great caution.
Since the Sacred Church chose densely populated major cities as the battlefield each time, in order to protect the local residents and their property, they ultimately had to fight with many restrictions.
Clearly, they had already been repelled once before, and had even forced the bishop to appear. Cain did not understand why the people of the Sacred Church kept returning so enthusiastically.
This kind of direct harassment had already made everyone extremely frustrated.
But before Cain arrived, those members of the Sacred Church seemed to receive some signal and immediately withdrew, very decisively, not staying even for a moment longer.
Riding Salamence, Cain looked at the devastated center of Ever Grande City, the damaged buildings, as well as the fear that could not be concealed on the faces of the residents who were slowly beginning to return.
Even Cain felt that the Sacred Church was truly annoying, and even more so for Drake, Steven, and the others, who had already been dealing with them for more than a month.
The irritation in their emotions could be clearly perceived.
Although, with the ability of Drake, Steven, and the others, they could still suppress such emotions, it was still not something good for them.
And not only Cain noticed this; Drake, Steven, and several others also keenly sensed the fluctuations in their own mental states.
But one thing was perceiving it, and quite another was being able to ignore it or prevent such feelings from arising.
If they continued suppressing it until it finally exploded, it was very likely that it would affect their judgment in battle.
Cain knew they could not continue like this.
When the time came, although it might not represent a particularly great threat, those whose emotions were influenced would lose part of their rationality and their most basic judgment.
Just as had happened in recent encounters: whenever they learned that members of the Sacred Church had appeared, Drake, Steven, and the others would clearly go out to fight in a bad mood, wanting to eliminate those walking nuisances once and for all.
And if fighting truly allowed them to vent their frustration, it would still be acceptable. But precisely because the Sacred Church chose to fight in such large cities, places where Drake and the others could not act freely, the situation became even more frustrating.
Moreover, after provoking them slightly, they did not stay to fight, but quickly retreated.
That left Drake and Steven with a feeling of half-finished frustration.
When everyone returned together, the group's atmosphere was still somewhat oppressive. If not for the previous time when Cain had displayed overwhelming strength and used Mega Evolution to attract their attention, he probably would have noticed this situation already.
What exactly was the Sacred Church trying to do?
To provoke everyone's anger? What benefit could they gain from that?
Standing atop Salamence's back, Cain silently reflected on this question.
The first thing that could be confirmed was that, if the Sacred Church acted in this manner, they necessarily had a purpose. It was definitely not meaningless harassment; through this method, they were concealing their true objective.
Moreover, angering everyone was clearly not beneficial for their own safety either. That suppressed anger would sooner or later fall upon them. Without a doubt, they were playing with fire.
It could not be said that, because of the identities of Drake, Steven, and the others, the Sacred Church could not affect them.
That was a superficial view. As long as someone was a complete human being, they inevitably possessed the seven emotions and six desires. Even Cain, who considered himself a calm person, felt a certain irritation toward the behavior of the Sacred Church, not to mention Drake, Steven, and the others, who had been tormented by them for more than a month.
Originally, after finally going to Kanto, even if he could not stay long, he would at least have had time to spend a few days there, visit his master at Mt. Silver, and exchange at the main headquarters of the Breeder Guild some materials collected in the Space-Time Continent that were useless to him, trading them for other materials.
But all those carefully prepared plans had been interrupted by the appearance of the Sacred Church.
(End of Chapter)