Half a month later, early one morning.
Ethan Black and Alex Baxter, as usual, got up early. After breakfast, they headed toward the library.
However, as soon as they arrived at the library, Professor Harris hurriedly took them to the laboratory.
As soon as Ethan Black entered, the first thing he saw was a small Pokémon covered in crimson-red armor, with two pairs of translucent wings and a pair of huge pincers.
"Scizor!" Ethan Black exclaimed to himself, staring intently.
After half a month of tests in which the researchers experimented with all kinds of Pokémon, they had finally managed to evolve a Scyther into Scizor.
"That's so cool!" said Alex Baxter in surprise. "What kind of Pokémon is this?"
He ran up to stand in front of it, his eyes shining with excitement. Scizor was truly impressive.
"What kind of Pokémon is it?" Ethan Black asked, pretending not to know.
"According to Gardevoir's telepathic description, this Pokémon is called Scizor," explained Professor Reynolds with a smile. "It's a Bug and Steel type. For now, we don't know much more."
For her, being a Steel-type specialist, discovering Steelix and now Scizor was an enormous surprise.
"Scizor? Could it be that it evolved with the Metal Coat?" Ethan Black looked it over from head to toe. Scizor was undoubtedly one of the most striking members of the Sandstorm team.
"Exactly, this Pokémon evolved using the Metal Coat," confirmed Grand President Beckett, approaching and patting him on the shoulder.
"A Pokémon that evolves with a Metal Coat!" Ethan Black repeated with a look of astonishment.
"Yes, we tried with almost every type of Pokémon, and in the end a Scyther managed to evolve with this method," said Beckett, still surprised.
With Scyther's evolution into Scizor, it was proven that the Metal Coat could work as an evolutionary stone. Furthermore, with the method of held item and spatial stimulation, it was possible to break through species barriers and evolve once more.
Ethan Black's thesis on "A New Direction for Pokémon Evolution" was completely validated.
"Ethan, excellent work. You've made a huge contribution to the Pokémon world. We've already sent a report to the Supreme League; your reward will arrive soon."
"During this time, you won't be able to leave the Sky's Secret Kingdom. I'm afraid you won't be able to spend the holidays at home this year. But don't worry, the League will speak to your family. We'll celebrate the New Year here, in the Pokémon Researchers Guild."
Ethan Black felt happy. Given the scale of the matter, the rewards would not be small. However, not being able to spend New Year's with his parents saddened him a little; it would be the first time he'd miss it.
"When I get out of here, I'll return as soon as possible. Now that I'm a distinguished trainer, I can give my parents a good life. I'll even buy a house in Ironvale City so they can live comfortably in the city." The simple thought of seeing his parents proud filled him with happiness.
...
In the following days, President Beckett and the others carried out more experiments. They tried the Metal Coat with all the Pokémon in the Sky's Secret Kingdom and then experimented with other rare items from the headquarters of the Pokémon Researchers Guild.
But evolutionary items are as varied as they are scarce, so almost all attempts failed.
For his part, after reading a large number of breeding books, Ethan Black began refining the training plans of several Pokémon.
The Sandslash he trained had already mastered: Scratch, Defense Curl, Rollout, Sand Attack, Rapid Spin, Gyro Ball, Sandstorm, Dig, Metal Claw, Crush Claw, Fury Swipes, Brick Break.
He had developed combinations such as Sand Whirl (Rapid Spin + Sand Attack) and Crush Spin (Rapid Spin + Crush Claw).
"These moves have already reached a bottleneck," thought Ethan Black. "Breaking through won't be easy."
With Professor Reynolds' guidance, he decided to focus the next stage of training on Steel-type moves. In addition, after consulting Professor Harris, he began preparing an experiment to awaken Sandslash's hidden gene.
If he managed to activate the Steel-type energy hidden inside, its strength would increase drastically. It might even mutate into an Alolan Sandslash, though that kind of evolution was the product of thousands of years of natural adaptation.
Still, even if the experiment failed, the training would greatly strengthen its body.
"Steel-type move training will be the key now," he told himself. "He must also add Steel-type food to his diet to help him master that energy."
"And he must not stop developing the move Sandstorm. From that move, he needs to learn to divide his attention between two actions at once."
With that, many of his ideas could start to take shape.
With the two professors as support, and the resources the Guild had promised, Ethan Black would no longer have obstacles to improving the strength of his Pokémon.
(End of chapter)