"..."
"Nothing."
Cain stretched out his hand again and gently stroked Celebi's head.
"Mm!"
Celebi let out a soft sound.
One person and one Pokémon played for a while in this emerald-green space. Celebi's laughter, like silver bells, spread throughout the entire space, echoing without end.
Celebi was a very special existence in the entire Pokémon world, because it could almost be considered an omniscient and omnipotent Pokémon of the Pokémon world, present in different periods of time. That was its special ability.
But sometimes, knowing too much was not necessarily a good thing.
That was why Celebi was very intelligent. It automatically filtered out all things that had no relation to it, and only in that way could it live each day so innocently and purely.
Cain played a little with Celebi, but then he knew it was already almost time to return. After all, he had been absent for five days, and surely in the League there would be quite a few important matters waiting for him to make decisions. Team Heaven should also have some matters that needed Cain's orders.
Now was a key moment for the union of Giovanni's Team Rainbow Rocket, and Team Heaven also played a very important role in it. Some things could not be decided by Brad and Catherine; only Cain had that authority.
Knowing that Cain would leave, Celebi, of course, was very reluctant, but it also knew there was no other choice.
"When Cain has time, you can come play with me again," Celebi said playfully.
"All right," Cain nodded, accepting that promise.
Afterward, Celebi directly threw him out, returning him to the tunnel through which he had entered at that time.
Seeing that it clearly had an expression of not wanting to part with him, but when sending him back, it did so without the slightest delay, Cain could not help feeling somewhat helpless.
However, as soon as Cain returned to the Pokémon world, the communicator he carried on him began ringing nonstop in a frenzy. There was no need to look to know that they were various messages sent by the people of the League.
He did not even take it out to look at it. He directly used Teleport and headed toward the headquarters of the Hoenn League.
In reality, nothing serious should have happened. After all, before entering Celebi's space, Cain had ordered Brad and the others that, in the Hoenn region, they were not to make any moves for the time being. Everything had to wait until he returned.
Upon returning to the central building of the Hoenn League, Steven and Phoebe were the first to go looking for him.
While Cain was not there, all the management orders of the armed department of the Hoenn region had come from the hands of the two of them.
But, in reality, it had been Steven who had worked hard and for free for Cain.
Although Phoebe, after a period of training, had improved her abilities and could be considered quite competent, handling important matters like these was not exactly her strong point.
So, in the end, it was still Steven who was in charge.
Only, Steven was not merely one of the Elite Four of the Hoenn League. He was also the young patriarch of the Stone family and one of the people in charge of the Devon Corporation. The matters in his hands were not few either.
During the days Cain was absent, the busiest one was him.
Fortunately, Cain only left for five days. Steven could still endure it. If Cain had left for five months, or even without reaching five months, just one month would have been enough to exhaust him to death.
After all, in order for himself to be more relaxed, Cain had delegated most of the authority that did not have too great an impact. Steven, as the most capable of everyone, naturally received special "attention" from Cain. Added to Cain's own work, that was the last straw that crushed the Tauros.
"Ahem... you two... do you have something especially important?" Cain did not even dare to look directly into Steven and Phoebe's eyes, especially Steven's!
Cain also felt somewhat fortunate that the time he had been absent was not long. Otherwise, Steven and Phoebe would probably have exploded at him for quite a while today.
Bang!
A thick pile of documents was thrown directly by the two of them onto Cain's desk. On top of that pile was a dark-red folder.
Seeing the color of that folder, Cain's expression instantly became serious. He understood the gravity of the matter.
A red folder represented an S-level incident. The only ones who could classify a matter as an S-level incident were the true high-ranking officials of the Hoenn League.
Moreover, under normal circumstances, except for Cain and Juan, the others needed at least three people together to classify it as an S-level incident. Once such an incident appeared, it meant that it was a major matter affecting the entire Hoenn League.
Cain immediately opened the folder and began reading its contents with a gloomy face.
Slap!
After reading it, Cain immediately closed the folder.
Noticing the change in Cain's expression, Steven and Phoebe also no longer continued insisting on a small matter like him having missed work for five days.
"Has the president already seen it?" Cain asked.
Steven and Phoebe nodded, and Steven answered, "President Juan has already seen it, but he said this belongs to your affairs. He has not battled for a long time."
Hearing this, Cain's expression stiffened. Could responsibility also be passed along like that?
This was probably... sitting at home and having a pot fall from the sky.
But there was no way around it. Who told him to be the Champion now?
"Call Elite Four Glacia and Elite Four Sidney as well. Also the three chief researchers. This matter really must be discussed properly," Cain said helplessly.
He had only left for five days. Just five days without keeping watch over this place, and without realizing it, he had received such a great responsibility.
Steven and Phoebe nodded. Both quickly left Cain's office.
And after the two left, Cain's expression became extremely gloomy.
"These guys! The moment I am not here, they actually dare to pretend to be my people!" Cain was somewhat angry.
(End of chapter)