The headquarters of the Hoenn League was not too far from Pacifidlog Town. With Cain's speed, in reality, he could arrive by flying quite quickly, but in consideration of the large force, he did not use his full speed.
Steven and Phoebe flew to Cain's left, while Glacia and Sidney flew to his right.
The reason they mobilized such a large formation this time was mainly because those pretending to be Team Heaven had truly gone too far. They had directly occupied all of Pacifidlog Town, controlling the Pokémon Gym, the Pokémon Center, and the League police station of the town.
They had also locked up all the inhabitants of Pacifidlog Town.
Because they acted quickly enough, the local League forces did not even manage to react before being directly subdued. They did not even have the chance to send information.
If it were not because several groups from the League's Research Department had recently been carrying out missions around Pacifidlog Town, and, when wanting to enter the town to rest and resupply, finally discovered the abnormality, no one would have found out.
Moreover, after fighting against those pretending to be Team Heaven and escaping to report to the League, the League finally learned that something like this had happened in Pacifidlog Town.
But to confirm it, Steven and Phoebe also could not classify this incident as S-level based only on the words of an ordinary researcher. Only after sending several Advanced-level researchers to investigate did they truly confirm the fall of Pacifidlog Town.
Originally, they were prepared to let Juan make the decision, but who would have thought that Cain would return precisely at that time. Since that was the case, Juan naturally had Steven hand this matter over to Cain to resolve.
After all, strictly speaking, Cain, as Champion, was the true person responsible for all war-related affairs of the Hoenn League. The current Juan could no longer overstep. If Cain were not there, something could still be said, but since Cain was present, of course it had to be handed to him.
However, from here, one could also see how strong this group that attacked Pacifidlog Town was. Surprisingly, they were able to directly occupy and seal off the town without a single piece of information leaking out, and it was even unknown how long Pacifidlog Town had been blocked.
The League's overall strength was truly powerful. Even a single regional league like the Hoenn League had quite outstanding strength. But what was strong was the League organization as a whole. The various cities within the region had very uneven forces, and the differences were quite large.
For example, Rustboro City, where the Stone family was located. Because of the presence of the Stone family, even if the local defensive force of the League was not especially strong, that city was not a place any ordinary force dared to provoke. Even now, with Team Heaven, Cain had strictly ordered not to act against Rustboro City.
But in a small town like Pacifidlog Town, although there was a Pokémon Gym, a Pokémon Center, and a League police station inside, after all, it could only be considered a small town. Because of that, the League's defensive force was not very great. In stable times, it was enough, but in the current situation, with turbulence everywhere, it was somewhat insufficient.
Precisely because now both the League and Team Heaven were in Cain's hands, he had deliberately avoided these problems and contradictions. Otherwise, if any other person were in command, with the great maritime fleet that Team Heaven possessed, invading Pacifidlog Town and taking it completely really would not be a troublesome matter.
Because of that, after this matter ended, Cain decided to reinforce the strength of the Hoenn League region. Not only the ordinary defensive force; even those Gyms that were necessary had to be knocked down and rebuilt from scratch. He could not allow some useless people to keep sitting in such key positions.
The greatest problem of the entire Hoenn League, or even of the entire League, was of course those "rotten families" Cain spoke of. But besides those families, the second malignant tumor in Cain's eyes were those who occupied some entire small and medium-sized cities, relying on the glory of their ancestors, and still shamelessly occupied the position of a city's Gym Leader.
These people, under the pretty name of Gym Leaders, in reality were nothing more than a group of lazy, gluttonous, achievementless useless people, waiting to die.
If the entire League always remained in a stable era, relying on the inherited protection of their ancestors, keeping them would not be impossible either. At most, they would consume a few extra resources.
But unfortunately, the current environment did not allow them to keep living like worms. Because of that, reforming the rules was imperative, right after the battle of Pacifidlog Town ended!
The group advanced imposingly and without hiding toward Pacifidlog Town. Led by Cain, the Champion, and accompanied by the Elite Four, it could be said that this was the strongest formation the Hoenn region could bring out at this moment.
That the people currently in Pacifidlog Town received this treatment could be considered giving them quite a lot of importance.
In reality, there was a reason Cain gave it so much importance: not far from Pacifidlog Town, on Route 131, stood the Sky Pillar, the legendary place closest to Rayquaza, the Dragon of the Sky.
If that group had nothing better to do and ended up provoking Rayquaza, although Cain had already become Champion, he probably would not be able to withstand it either.
Bang!
Salamence landed heavily on the ground, raising a great cloud of dust.
Immediately afterward...
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
One landing sound after another echoed in succession.
They descended on the outskirts of Pacifidlog Town and looked at the town, sunk in deathly silence. On the entire street there was not a single person. Looking at the houses, there was also no light whatsoever, nor any trace of human life. It was as if they had entered a ghost town.
An unknown fragment of psychic power, which only he could read, appeared in front of Cain.
He casually took it with his hand.
(End of chapter)