Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom

After saying all he needed to, Umbra and Cain fell back into silence.

Following Umbra's signal, Cain finally lifted the tea cup and took a slow sip.

In truth, Cain enjoyed both tea and coffee.

That initial bitterness, gradually fading, leaving a soft sweetness in the mouth.

The contrast between sweetness and bitterness highlighted the true flavor even more.

Cain didn't care too much about the type of tea or coffee; he simply enjoyed that lingering aftertaste, unlike Umbra, who paid close attention to the art of tea.

Cain downed the contents of his cup in one go, and the bitterness in his mouth grew stronger.

Umbra shook his head and refilled Cain's cup.

For a powerful Elite-level Trainer to be serving Cain tea was a rare occurrence.

"Such good tea is wasted on you," Umbra said calmly, slightly melancholic, though with a hint of irony.

Cain, about to lift the cup, paused momentarily and then replied with a smile, "To me, it doesn't matter what kind of tea it is or what techniques are used to prepare it. What matters is that the more bitter the tea, the deeper the aftertaste."

Umbra, surprised, remained silent for a moment. Cain's words didn't seem typical for someone his age. Although he had lived much more than most people his age, he hadn't expected to hear something like that from him.

They didn't have to wait long before the ship set sail.

Originally, Umbra had been waiting for Cain's arrival, and now that Cain was on board, even though the captain (Officer) of the ship had been taken to emergency care for severe blood loss, it wasn't that important, was it?

He could easily be replaced by someone else.

The Rocket Team's cargo ship followed its course, heading toward the Trial Island along a special route, its hold filled with various supplies.

...

In a luxurious room, a frail-looking middle-aged man rested his hand on his head, looking at a videophone on the wall as he listened to the report from one of his subordinates.

If Cain were here, he would probably recognize that the person on the videophone screen was the Senior Officer he had encountered before on the cargo ship.

The Senior Officer, showing complete respect, was detailing the events that had occurred.

After listening to the report, the middle-aged man, smiling, said, "So, you, a Senior Officer, along with an Officer, were unable to uncover anything about that boy, and in addition, one of you was rendered useless?"

Although he was smiling as he spoke, no one would have thought he was actually pleased.

The Senior Officer started sweating profusely.

Quickly, he recounted exactly what Umbra had said, word for word.

"Oh? I heard he failed his last mission and his power was severely diminished. If this were before, I might have shown him some respect, but now... we'll only know who's stronger if we face off," said the man.

According to the Elite Trainer rankings, Umbra was far stronger, but on his last mission, he had suffered a major power loss, and now no one knew how much strength he had left.

"Forget it, it's pointless to continue talking about this. Tell that brat that if he doesn't get the results I expect this time in the trial, I'll send him to the Immortals Squad. The next time we face off against the League, he'll be the first to charge in."

"Yes, sir!" The Senior Officer quickly wiped the sweat from his brow and replied.

At this moment, he was more concerned with saving himself than his companions.

Once the videophone turned off, the expression of the middle-aged man turned grim. "The Shadows unit... they still think they're the same as before?"

...

Two days later.

The Rocket Team's cargo ship successfully arrived at the Trial Island.

During those two days, apart from the brief initial chat with Umbra over tea, Cain had spent the rest of his time in his room, preparing a few things that might be useful on the Trial Island.

The first thing he did was make arrangements for the subordinates he had recruited previously on the Trial Island.

He didn't know how many of them would still be loyal after he'd been away for so long.

Or rather, he didn't know how many would genuinely follow him. Nor was he particularly interested in finding out.

However, after Cain left the Trial Island this time, those who decided to follow him would have to swear absolute loyalty. That was the condition Cain would impose.

What he was preparing in his room was related to that objective.

During those two days, he hadn't seen Umbra again, and when he disembarked, he still didn't see him.

Most likely, Umbra had left shortly after Cain boarded, right?

Did an Elite Trainer really need to stay on a ship all the time?

Not necessarily.

Cain wasn't bothered by Umbra's absence.

Setting foot on the muddy ground, filled with a pungent, earthy smell, Cain sensed an air mixed with blood and wet soil.

This was the atmosphere of the Trial Island.

From the outside, it was hard to see the full extent of the Trial Island. Calling it an island wasn't quite accurate; it was more like a small piece of land, as even now, Cain didn't know how deep it went.

But the fact that Rocket Team had managed to keep this place secret in the middle of the ocean spoke volumes about their power.

It was also possible that only Rocket Team's exclusive ships could reach this place.

Because in the cabin Cain was in, there were no windows, and once the ship reached the sea, Cain was warned not to leave his room until they were about to arrive.

So he didn't know how he got to this place or how to leave it; he only had a general sense of direction.

Rocket Team protected this place very carefully.

The sailors were busy unloading cargo, and no one paid attention to Cain.

Thus, Cain quietly returned to the Trial Island, with only one day left until the three-month trial period ended.

Cain's Murkrow perched on his shoulder as he walked across the still familiar terrain, slowly heading toward Rocket Team's base.

He didn't encounter anyone on his way.

Of the three hundred people who had been at the base originally, there probably weren't even a hundred left now.

In his previous life, Cain had not left the island temporarily, so he had experienced all the horrors of the Trial Island and knew that the closer it got to the end, the bloodier it became.

He passed through the familiar long hallway and arrived once again at the central plaza of the base.

In the middle of the plaza, a black testing stone still stood, now dull and stained with a few drops of blood that no one bothered to clean.

The improvised battlefield where Cain and Xander had fought was still there, with dried blood stains everywhere.

This gave an idea of how brutal things had become on the Trial Island.

Cain barely glanced at it, ignoring the smell of blood, and walked toward the temporary structure that Xander and his followers had set up.

He didn't see anyone at the base, which surprised him a little.

Even if many had died, shouldn't there have been more people at Rocket Team's base?

Had Viper not taken care of anything?

Finally, Cain understood the situation: it wasn't that no one was there, but that, with the final trial starting the next day, everyone was focused on surviving within their own groups, leaving no time for scheming.

Those who had a chance to advance were conserving their energy, while those who didn't were desperately seeking someone strong to cling to.

(End of chapter)