"KAEL DRAKO!!!"
Just as Cain was beginning to feel a strong headache, a hoarse voice rose from the slope of Mt. Silver and reached the summit where he was.
Kael Drako?
Upon hearing that name, not only did Cain's body tremble, but so did that of the Sacred Church bishop suspended in the air.
"Kael Drako... Kael Drako... Drako...?" Cain's eyes widened, his face filled with total disbelief.
Could it be that the true identity of the Sacred Church bishop was someone from the Drako family?
If that were the case, then everything made sense.
With the capability and heritage of the Drako family, they had raised countless trainers of all kinds. And a large portion of those trainers had once gone to the old Kanto League.
Some, the more powerful ones, held high-ranking positions; others, weaker ones, occupied somewhat lower positions.
But no matter what, it was always said among the people that anyone who came from the Drako family was first-rate.
If this Sacred Church bishop had once been a member of the Drako family before leaving the League, or even one of its direct heirs, then it was not strange that he knew so many things about the League.
Moreover, the Drako family was extremely powerful, a family even far older than the history of the League itself. As a family specialized in dragon-type Pokémon, with their background, it was not surprising that they knew about Giratina, the dragon of the underworld.
Then a burly man dressed in a League military uniform, riding a Charizard, rose into the sky until he positioned himself in front of Cain, staring at Kael, who hovered in the air.
"So it really was you, Kael Drako!" the burly man said through gritted teeth.
Seeing that his identity had been exposed, Kael felt no pressure at all. Instead, he let out a long sigh.
"It has been a long time since anyone called me by that name. It even feels a little strange. Long time no see, Magnus."
"Oh, so you've already become a League commander. It seems that over all these years you have not fallen too far behind. That little boy who used to follow behind Giovanni and me has finally reached this level."
Hearing Kael's words, Magnus's expression became grave.
"Kael, to a certain extent I can understand Giovanni's actions, but you... why?"
"Were you not the legitimate eldest son of the former head of the Drako family? With your potential and abilities, inheriting the position of head of the Drako family was your destiny. Even becoming president of the League headquarters would not have been impossible!"
"Heh... why?" Kael let out a light laugh, but the calm expression he had maintained until then twisted into a fierce grimace.
As if something deep inside him had been touched, he roared: "There is no why! I simply found what I desired, what I pursued!"
"You, as a League commander, have you not noticed that this enormous League has already begun to grow to the point of becoming unmanageable?"
"At the beginning, when it was founded, in order to better integrate the regions, facilitate administration, and accommodate all those large and small families, the system was indeed very effective and stabilized the League's governance."
"But now! No, rather, for the past thirty or forty years, those so-called families have gone from being a support of the League to becoming parasitic leeches. Those people are bloodsuckers attached to the entire Pokémon world. Not only are they useless, but they constantly absorb nutrients from the League itself..."
"I, as the heir to the position of head of the Drako family, know far more things than you."
"Far more!"
"Back then I presented my opinions to the council elder, and the result was... heh."
Upon encountering an old acquaintance like Magnus, Kael suddenly released many of the words he had kept inside, and also allowed Cain to understand quite a few things.
Only then did Cain finally realize that this Kael was the heir of the former head of the Drako family, in other words, the eldest of the famous three sons of the Drako family of that era, and also the first to disappear.
As for the second, he was Lance's father. After Kael disappeared, he also vanished, withdrew to live in Viridian City, and later had Lance. In the end, because Lance's talent was impossible to conceal, the Drako family ultimately brought them back.
And the current head of the Drako family was the third of those brothers.
In fact, the third had also wanted to run away when he saw his eldest brother and second brother leave, but the elders of the Drako family caught him and forced him to return, making him the head of the Drako family. That same man was the father of Clair, the Gym Leader of Blackthorn City.
At last, everything became clear.
Cain felt that he had just learned a truly explosive secret.
The Sacred Church bishop turned out to be the eldest son of the former head of the Drako family, the elder brother of the current head of the Drako family... that information was truly shocking.
"And could you not use your own abilities to gradually correct the defective aspects of the League?" Magnus shouted loudly.
"Heh... if it were really possible to do so, do you think I would have reached this point?" Kael replied calmly. "Now those families are already intertwined with the League through thousands of connections. Touch one, and the whole body moves. If that were not the case, do you think that old man, with his capabilities, would have done absolutely nothing for so many years?"
"It was no longer only the Drako family. There were also the Joy family and the Jenny family, even more exaggerated. Those two were the true supreme families of the entire Pokémon world!"
"The scope they covered and the reach of their presence were so immense that it was impossible to remove them from the League."
Kael's words, in that sense, did have a certain logic.
(End of chapter)