When the two bodies fell, Murkrow barely reacted, quickly running over and positioning himself to attack the lifeless bodies on the ground.
Cain gestured with his hand, signaling that everything was over.
It was then that the fork embedded in his shoulder caused a sharp pain, affecting his nerves.
Enduring the pain in his shoulder, he took the Poké Balls from the belts of the two men and, after blocking them all, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
What had just happened occurred so fast that Cain didn't have time to plan anything; in that instant, the action he took was simply the one with the highest chance of success, so he went for it.
Both opponents were stronger than him and were constantly on guard. Although he initially managed to deceive them, there were still many inconsistencies.
If they had gone to check what Cain had said earlier about seeing someone completely drenched, and if there had been no signs of water in that area, they could have realized Cain was lying.
That's why, before the two went searching for that nonexistent person, Cain had to get rid of them.
If he had let his Pokémon do it, it would have been too obvious, and the two clearly weren't inexperienced; they were always cautious around Murkrow and the others.
Fortunately, Cain seemed quite harmless and was rather young; he didn't have a strong build, which lowered their defenses.
Had Cain been a regular adult, it probably wouldn't have been as easy to eliminate them.
Bearing the pain, Cain pulled the fork out of his shoulder. It was clear the person who had attacked him was determined, as the fork was deeply embedded in his shoulder.
He threw the bloodstained fork directly into the fire to reduce the scent of blood.
From his ring, he took out a bottle of disinfectant, grabbed a stick, and bit down on it, preparing to pour the disinfectant on his wound.
At that moment, Miltank stepped forward and stopped Cain, indicating that she would handle it herself.
Cain fully trusted Miltank, letting her take care of the wound, as doing it himself would have been challenging.
After disinfecting the wound, applying ointment, and bandaging it, everything was basically finished.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead and, looking at the two bodies on the ground with their eyes still open, Cain murmured to himself: "If I hadn't taken them down, they would've taken me down, so all I can do is ask them to report to the afterlife."
Then, without further delay, he took all the spatial equipment and valuable items from the two.
With the help of Slowpoke and the others, he buried them in the Misty Forest.
It's likely that before long, two new Ghost-type Pokémon will appear here.
After clearing all traces and storing everything in his ring, Cain and his Pokémon left the area.
They paused briefly, and two League trainers arrived on the scene; who knows if more will come later. It's best to leave as soon as possible.
This time, Cain had no intention of stopping at all; he even ate on the go.
However, after injuring his arm, doing anything became somewhat uncomfortable, and on top of that, there were quite a few wild Pokémon, keeping Murkrow and the others busy.
...
After advancing for another three hours, until blood stains began to appear on his shoulder, Cain decided to stop and rest.
He found a large tree, and along with his Pokémon, he hurried to rest there for the night.
After a tense day, Cain was already exhausted; he left Gastly on guard and quickly fell asleep.
Although Cain fell asleep, his Pokémon didn't drift off as quickly, as they understood very well what had happened during the day.
Especially Slowpoke, who had been with Cain through all the day's experiences.
What filled them with some remorse was that throughout the day, they hadn't made a big impact, especially against the League trainers.
Although they were always ready, awaiting Cain's command to attack.
But in the end, Cain had to act personally, resulting in a serious injury; this made his Pokémon feel very guilty.
Through Slowpoke's psychic control, the Pokémon reflected and lamented, vowing to train harder in the future to prevent a similar event from happening again.
Even Sneasel, who had recently joined the team, though he didn't voice any opinion on what had happened, didn't oppose the proposals of Murkrow and the others.
All of this happened without Cain knowing.
...
The next morning, Cain woke up with a slight headache, guided by his biological clock.
But when he awoke, he realized his Pokémon weren't around.
While he was surprised, he saw Murkrow flying quickly in front of him, practicing his flying skills around the tree.
Upon climbing down from the tree, he saw Slowpoke meditating, with his psychic abilities flowing intensely.
Gastly, who had kept watch all night, didn't seem inclined to rest and was training his moves from afar; Miltank was also practicing her hits against a tree, not too big nor too small, causing the leaves to fall like crazy.
And Sneasel, who had joined recently, didn't have a specific training direction yet since Cain hadn't assigned him tasks, so he simply did climbing exercises, practicing his agility.
It wasn't clear who had taught him, but he had two large logs tied to his feet, making his climbing training even more challenging.
Cain watched his Pokémon training with great determination, all except Skorupi, who was still sleeping, pushing themselves harder than ever.
Suddenly, as if he understood something, Cain smiled, touching his shoulder wound and thinking: "Maybe getting injured isn't all bad after all."
Miltank, seeing that Cain had woken up, stopped her training and helped him prepare breakfast.
Meanwhile, Cain continued to correct his Pokémon's training deficiencies, paying special attention to Sneasel, who was joining the training for the first time.
...
Two days later, riding Onix, Cain and his Pokémon arrived once again in the Ecruteak City area.
This time, he had learned his lesson and didn't enter the city looking disheveled.
He changed into his League trainer clothes and put Murkrow, Sneasel, and the others back into their Poké Balls, taking only Slowpoke as he walked slowly toward the city.
The wound on his shoulder hadn't healed yet, but covered by his clothes, nothing looked unusual from the outside.
After another two days of survival in the wild and more intense training, his Pokémon had improved to varying degrees; Murkrow, Gastly, and Miltank had each gained a level, reaching levels 23, 20, and 22, respectively.
(End of chapter)