Fuu, fuu, fuu...
The wind roared past Ethan's ears as Pidgeot sliced through the clouds at full speed.
In no time, thanks to its maximum-power flight, they arrived at the Sky Secret Kingdom.
"Ethan! You finally bothered to come back!" a familiar voice greeted him the moment he landed.
It was his friend Alex Baxter, waving at him with an enthusiastic grin.
"Yeah, I've been busy with a few things," Ethan replied with a light laugh. "You're right, it's been a while since I last came. By the way, how are Professor Harris and his research going?"
Alex sighed. "Regarding the research on special evolution methods, there's not much progress. The Dragon Scale seems to work only with the Seadra family, and we haven't managed to get any other Pokémon to evolve with it."
As he said this, he frowned and, after a pause, narrowed his eyes at Ethan suspiciously. "Tell me the truth... you're not hiding another form of special evolution, are you?"
"Of course not," Ethan said without a hint of change in his expression. "If I had one, I would've told you immediately."
Naturally, he had no intention of doing so.
"Fine, I'll believe you," Alex said after thinking for a moment. "By the way, even though my group made no progress, it seems Professor Harris achieved a new breakthrough."
"Professor Harris? You mean the research on sandstorm climate?" Ethan asked, eyes lighting up.
"Exactly," Alex nodded. "Ever since he saw that battle between the sandstorm climate and the rain climate, he seems to have gotten a huge inspiration."
Without wasting time, Alex led Ethan toward Professor Harris's research area.
Ethan knew that place well: it was where his Cacnea had evolved into Cacturne, and also where he had first met Trapinch.
"Come out—Sandslash, Cacturne, Slowking, Meltan, Vibrava, Charmander."
With a nostalgic look, Ethan released the six Pokémon related to his sandstorm team.
"Chaarrr!"
As soon as Charmander came out, he ran straight toward Ethan with his arms wide open, begging for a hug.
Ethan smiled helplessly and picked him up. Maybe from carrying him so often lately, he felt his arms had gotten quite a bit stronger.
Meanwhile, Vibrava looked around and, recognizing the place where he had been born, let out an excited chirp and began floating and spinning in the air, stirring up a faint cloud of dust.
"Welcome home, Vibrava," Ethan said with a smile as he extended his arm for the Pokémon to perch.
His arm sank only slightly—Vibrava was carefully controlling his Levitate ability, trying to counteract gravity and air currents.
This was exactly one of the exercises Ethan had assigned him: improving his mastery over the ability. If he could completely counterbalance weight and wind resistance with Levitate, it would mean he had reached an extremely high level of control.
"Cac!" Cacturne intoned, standing tall and unmoving.
Since evolving, Cacturne had become extremely serene. Sometimes he spent entire days under the sun without moving, like a monk in meditation. Of course, he wasn't doing it for leisure but to feel natural energy and refine control over his roots.
"Zzzt!"
Meltan appeared floating in the air. At this point, he had already mastered complete control over magnetic levitation.
Thanks to his electrical energy and Magnet Pull ability, he had managed to use it as if it were the move Magnet Rise or even the Levitate ability, maintaining stable suspension.
But the moment he came out, his gaze locked onto Cacturne.
He let out a short buzz, and in the next instant, he flew toward him, transforming into a silver metal armor that wrapped around Cacturne's body.
The combined weight caused Cacturne to sink slightly into the ground, leaving two circular marks in the sand before stabilizing.
This was another of Ethan's training programs: body-weight training. To improve Cacturne's close-combat capabilities, he needed to strengthen his physical structure.
At the same time, Meltan was also training this way, using his metallic form to practice the moves Harden and Iron Defense.
Ever since mastering Iron Defense, Meltan had learned to concentrate Steel-type energy to temporarily increase his mass, allowing him to act as a weighted training device.
This ability to control his own body weight had now become a key aspect of his training: after all, weight and impact force are closely related—especially when combined with flight.
Seeing Cacturne and Meltan stuck so closely together, Ethan couldn't help but let out a laugh.
Meanwhile, Slowking floated in the air... although it actually looked like he was still asleep. His body was suspended thanks to Shellder's psychic power, gently keeping him afloat.
"Seriously? Even that is possible?" Ethan muttered, a sweatdrop forming on his forehead.
After greeting the diligent Shellder, he turned his gaze toward Sandslash.
The Pokémon stood very serious, staring into the distance. He could clearly sense a powerful sandstorm energy forming far away—so strong that even from here, the sensation was unmistakable.
"Let's go, Sandslash," Ethan said with a smile, following Alex toward Professor Harris's laboratory.
Thump... thump... thump...
They had barely walked a short distance when the ground began to tremble.
Suddenly, a dark-skinned Rhyhorn appeared, charging toward them at full speed.
"Rhyh!"
As it approached, it braked sharply, carving deep marks into the ground, and stopped in front of Ethan, sniffing him curiously.
But before he could react, another loud rumble echoed in the distance.
A female Rhydon appeared, fierce and protective, staring at Ethan with complete distrust, as if she believed he was trying to kidnap her child.
"For Arceus' sake..." Ethan muttered with a sweatdrop.
That Rhydon was incredibly overprotective and watched him nonstop. He couldn't defeat her in battle, and that was precisely why he still hadn't managed to obtain the young Rhyhorn.
(End of chapter)