"Long time no see," Ethan greeted with a smile toward the female Rhydon.
Then he looked somewhat regretfully at the little Rhyhorn who, after taking three steps and turning back repeatedly, returned to his mother's side.
Seeing that, the female Rhydon patted the little Rhyhorn's head, nodded at Ethan, and left on her own.
"Alright, let's go," said Alex Baxter. "The professor's lab is just ahead."
When the female Rhydon guarding the entrance allowed them to pass, Alex led Ethan inside.
Fuuuh—
As soon as they approached, a blast of yellow sand hit their faces.
Slowking, as Ethan's defensive core, instantly opened his eyes; a column of water rose from the ground, forming a swirling water vortex that wrapped around Ethan and Alex, protecting them completely.
"What an intense sandstorm... Someone must be using Sandstorm," Ethan commented, feeling the constant battering of dust against the aquatic vortex.
The intensity was far too strong—nothing like the half-strength Sandstorm Sandslash could produce.
Fuuuh—
The storm roared for a while before slowly dissipating.
"Now this is a real Sandstorm," Ethan said with some admiration.
Sandslash beside him turned dark in the face: So now you're blaming me for not knowing how to summon a real storm, or what?
"Wait... don't tell me that Pokémon is... Tyranitar!" Ethan suddenly exclaimed, spotting an imposing figure through the sand.
Tyranitar's body was covered in a steel-like green armor, with multiple spikes of different sizes protruding from its back; it looked like a bipedal, pure-strength dinosaur.
"Incredible... it really is the tyrant of the desert, Tyranitar," Ethan murmured, watching it in awe.
Tyranitar, a pseudo-legendary Pokémon with the ability Sand Stream, belonged to the list of species restricted by the League. It was nearly impossible to find one in the wild—an extremely rare Pokémon.
He never would've imagined encountering one here. And on top of that...
As Ethan examined Tyranitar, three little Larvitar popped out from behind it, happily rolling around in the sand.
"Besides the Tyranitar... there are three Larvitar!" Ethan said with shining eyes. "It looks like they live here as a family."
This was truly an impressive sight.
"Hehe, surprised, huh?" Alex laughed proudly. "That Tyranitar and the three Larvitar were sent by the League specifically for Professor Harris to use in his sandstorm research."
"Sent?" Ethan repeated, catching the key word.
If they were "sent," then that meant they now belonged to Professor Harris, right?
"Well, technically yes, but only for him to take care of," Alex explained. "If you're thinking about taking one, forget it. Unless you get the League's authorization, so-called Disaster Pokémon can't be owned by just anyone."
Seeing Ethan's eyes widen with greed, practically drooling, Alex flicked him on the head to snap him back to reality.
"I know, I know..." Ethan muttered. "But... it's not impossible!"
Ethan's eyes gleamed with determination.
Tyranitar is the soul of any Sandstorm team; such a team can't exist without one. And this might be his closest chance to getting one.
"Maybe I could find a way to exchange some kind of authorization with the League to own a Disaster Pokémon..." he muttered quietly.
He remembered seeing a competitor in one of the professional tournaments using another Disaster Pokémon: a Pelipper. Although it hadn't activated Drizzle in that match, he still wondered whether it had the ability or not.
"Alex, do you know how one obtains authorization to capture a Disaster Pokémon?" Ethan asked after a moment.
"I've heard a bit about it," Alex answered after thinking. "They say that if you make a major contribution during a rescue operation or disaster relief effort, you can apply for the permit to use one."
"Additionally, researchers like Professor Harris, who work on projects related to those Pokémon, can apply for it too."
The method existed, yes, but it wasn't easy at all, and didn't even guarantee success.
"I see... so, rescue missions," Ethan repeated, nodding seriously before looking again at Tyranitar and its little ones.
"Ethan," a nearby voice called.
It was Professor Harris, who lifted his head from his notes with a smile as he recognized him.
"Professor Harris, I'm back," Ethan greeted, approaching happily.
"Good, I'm glad to see you return," the professor replied, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
"How is the research going?" Ethan asked, leaning over the tables and data in front of the professor, but immediately felt dizzy—he didn't understand a single line.
"It's going very well," Professor Harris said, energized. "We've been studying the conditions of Sandstorm, and the results are promising."
"The move Sandstorm, the abilities Sand Stream, Sand Veil, Sand Rush, and Sand Force... They all seem to contain a mysterious force in common."
"For now we call it 'Sandstorm Energy'. For example, your Sandslash uses the energy contained in its Sand Rush ability; by spinning and tossing sand, it manages to activate the weather phenomenon."
Professor Harris spoke excitedly about his progress: everything revolved around this fundamental energy.
Thanks to his deep study, he had managed to decipher the principles behind these abilities and had even designed a preliminary training method to master the move Sandstorm.
"You've arrived just in time," he said with a smile. "During this period, let your Sandslash work with me to complete the training."
"If it manages to fully master the Sandstorm move using my method, I'll finally be able to conclude the first phase of my research!"
Professor Harris spoke with enthusiasm. After all, discovering how to train weather-type moves would definitely cause a sensation in the academic world.
(End of chapter)