Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom

Upon hearing Miyamoto's words, Cain's eyes flashed with an unknown light.

"What is the approximate strength level of these four? If you fought them, what could you do?" Cain asked.

Miyamoto thought for a moment before replying, "I'm not exactly sure how strong they are since I've never fought them. However, any Pokémon they send out is stronger than my most powerful Primeape."

"But knowing their character, they wouldn't show their strongest Pokémon out in the open. Conservatively, I'd say that a direct subordinate of one of the executives could take on two of me. Of course, that's a cautious estimate."

"If I had to guess, their strongest Pokémon is probably similar in strength to your Tropius."

Cain displayed a serious expression. A Pokémon with strength comparable to Tropius? Capable of facing two like Miyamoto?

It seemed unlikely he could be their match.

Tropius still wasn't a Pokémon Cain could control in battle. After all, its main role remained as an aerial mount. There was no coordination between them, and Tropius hadn't participated in Cain's specific training.

Generally speaking, Tropius could only be considered half a Pokémon of Cain's.

Even so, though he couldn't win, Cain was confident in his ability to escape, so there was no need to be afraid.

Besides, there might be an opportunity to take down a few.

Cain quickly thought it over.

"What else?"

"Apart from the subordinates of the four executives, there are five more individuals whose strength is also quite remarkable."

"Although their bosses hold elite officer ranks, their true strength is at the peak of the elite trainer rank, so in Team Rocket they are called 'pseudo-executives.'"

"They're not weak either, though compared to the executives' subordinates, they are somewhat inferior."

"If I make a basic estimate, if I face one without a type advantage, the match would likely be 70-30, in their favor."

"Of course, most likely, all of my Pokémon would fall, while they might retain two to three Pokémon, one of which could be in full form, while the others would be injured and unable to fight."

"Though they're called 'pseudo-executives,' they're still at the top level of an elite trainer. Most of their resources are used to strengthen themselves; they don't always train their subordinates to the fullest."

"However, if they thoroughly train their subordinates, their strength might not be inferior to that of the executives' subordinates. Some of these five may be hiding their true strength."

"As for the other fifteen, their levels are more or less the same. I'd be in the middle of the group."

Miyamoto explained everything he knew straightforwardly.

After all, they weren't allies, but rivals. If Cain managed to defeat or eliminate any of them, Miyamoto would be satisfied.

The reason he hadn't answered Cain before was out of pride, but now, in such a vulnerable position, relying on Cain's mood to survive, he had no choice but to answer everything asked.

After hearing this, Cain first looked at his Slowpoke.

When he asked Miyamoto the questions, he had already instructed Slowpoke to monitor his mind with psychic powers. If it detected any disturbance or unusual behavior, it was to eliminate him immediately.

Slowpoke shook its head toward Cain, indicating there were no issues.

Only then could Cain trust his words.

But not completely—he would trust only 70%.

He didn't believe that among the subordinates of the regular officers, no one was hiding their strength, nor that the subordinates of the executives only had that level of power.

Perhaps that's what they openly displayed, but what about what they hid?

Cain still remembered his first battle against Xander, when he had that purple pill as his trump card. So at least the five with a background similar to Xander's should also have something like that, right? And those of even higher rank—wouldn't they also have some form of protection?

The officers didn't train them primarily for this trial; it just happened that this was a good opportunity to demonstrate their usefulness.

Training them isn't something that could be achieved in just a few months.

To have stronger subordinates in the future, they surely provided survival methods. Only it's unknown what they are.

However, he could ignore the other officers' subordinates, but he wouldn't let go of the one who tested him before his return.

Since he couldn't go after the Executive or the officer at the moment, he would temporarily assign this matter to that subordinate.

Cain considered himself a very vengeful person.

Although he didn't know who it was, nor had Umbra given him any clues.

Cain could only speculate.

First, Cain ruled out Surge.

He's known for his explosive temper in Team Rocket, and he's clearly not the type of person to do something like that.

If it really had been Surge, Cain doubted he'd have left Vermilion City, and not even Umbra could have stopped him.

Then, Cain ruled out Ariana.

A month ago, Cain saw her fight Pryce personally at Lake of Rage in the Johto region, and she was under pressure the entire time. Though there was no news of her death, her strength surely suffered great damage. She wouldn't have time to worry about him now.

So that left two people: Lucius and Darius.

Cain had never interacted with these two in his previous life; he'd only heard of some of their events.

So he couldn't guess which one it was.

Therefore, he would temporarily focus his target on the subordinates of these two.

However, compared to Ice-type Pokémon, Cain thought it would be better to choose Vexor, who was skilled in using Bug-type Pokémon, as his first target.

Thus, Cain's first target would be Vexor.

As for whether he could defeat him, he'd only know by trying.

His thoughts cleared in seconds, and Cain refocused his gaze on Miyamoto.

How to deal with him was a complicated problem.

If he followed his previous life's character, he would surely kill him immediately, but now Cain was different. His enemies were clearly stronger than him at this point, so if he could gain a few good allies, his chances of success would be greater.

But pretending that a person like this would submit with just a few words was obviously not possible.

Even if he knelt and surrendered immediately, Cain would still hesitate to trust him.

As Cain thought, Miyamoto was also reflecting.

Now his life was in Cain's hands, and if he wanted to live, staying still and waiting wasn't his style.

At that moment, directly submitting to Cain wasn't something he could easily accept.

The officer behind him wasn't someone easy to deal with.

(End of Chapter)