After leaving the Secret Kingdom, Ethan immediately returned to Professor Harris's laboratory.
After a long journey full of dust and exhaustion, he greeted the professor and Sandslash briefly, and then rushed straight to the shower, determined to wash all the sand off his body.
During his stay in the desert he hadn't noticed it much, but once he returned to a comfortable place, the discomfort became obvious.
"Charmander, use your temperature control."
After filling the bathtub with cold water, Ethan gave the order. Charmander looked at the bathwater with some fear, but obediently heated it with its ability.
Ethan let out a sigh of relief: "Now this... this is life."
After bathing, he drank a cup of the juice prepared by Shuckle, and then took Vibrava to the training field where Sandslash was practicing.
There, as always, Professor Harris was supervising Sandslash's training in the Sandstorm move.
Sandslash was holding a Smooth Rock in its hands, which contained powerful sandstorm energy. It focused on sensing and controlling the rock-type energy, trying to create resonance between that energy and the power of the sandstorm.
"Cac!"
When Sandslash finished a phase of its practice, Cacturne entered the training field with a proud posture, lifting its head and looking around arrogantly. It even shot Sandslash a provocative glance, so shamelessly smug that Sandslash felt confused and had a bad premonition.
Suddenly, Cacturne bumped its fists together, releasing a powerful rock-type energy throughout its body, and then activated its Sand Veil ability. A dense sandstorm force surged up, resonating with the rock energy until it transformed into a genuine Sandstorm.
"Shaaaa!"
Seeing this, Sandslash's eyes widened as it rubbed them in disbelief. Then it entered the sandstorm generated by Cacturne, feeling the authentic sandstorm energy. Its Sand Rush ability activated instinctively, confirming the truth: it was real!
The blow was harsh.
He, a Pokémon specialized in the Sandstorm climate, still hadn't fully mastered the move—yet Cacturne had!
During the time he had been separated from Ethan—more than half a month—what kind of adventure had his team gone through to achieve such progress?
Sandslash felt hurt and looked at Ethan with reproachful eyes, as if saying: "So you had benefits and didn't take me with you? I can't believe this, Ethan!"
"The Sandstorm move..."
"Ethan! How did your Cacturne learn that move?" asked Professor Harris, surprised as he watched the sandstorm swirl around the field.
"It was pure luck," Ethan replied with a smile. "In the desert I found a special rock, a Smooth Rock. So I followed the training method you taught me and let Cacturne give it a try... and surprisingly, it worked!"
Ethan explained the learning process briefly, completely hiding the secret of the Secret Kingdom. After all, that place contained an ancient gate, veins of Smooth Rock, and a wild Tyranitar—extremely valuable resources he didn't intend to reveal to anyone.
In his version of the story, he had simply "found a rock by chance."
Then he pulled from his backpack a huge piece of Smooth Rock the size of a head, leaving Professor Harris utterly stunned.
"You're quite lucky, my boy!" exclaimed Professor Harris.
Ethan also shared his observations about the limitations of the training method, causing Professor Harris to nod thoughtfully.
Later, the professor used Ethan's Smooth Rock to help Sandslash enter a new training phase, and the results were astonishing: Sandslash successfully mastered the Sandstorm move.
Ethan sighed in relief. It seemed that Professor Harris's method not only required mastering sandstorm energy but also using an item containing that energy as support.
Moreover, the higher the quality of the Smooth Rock, the faster a Pokémon would learn. That was why Cacturne, who had been living in a mine full of Smooth Rock, managed to surpass even the veteran Sandslash.
After this success, Professor Harris applied the same method to his other Pokémon—Dugtrio, Golem, and the others—successfully helping all of them learn the Sandstorm move using Ethan's Smooth Rock.
On the same day the experiments concluded, Professor Harris officially submitted his research to the Pokémon Researcher Guild.
And that day, the names of Professor Harris and Ethan echoed throughout the academic world.
Ever since Sandslash had accidentally learned the Sandstorm move, Ethan had been a key piece of the project. The discovery of the Sand Veil ability in Cacturne and the revelation of sandstorm energy's power were also directly linked to him.
And now, with this final experiment, Ethan not only helped Cacturne master the move, but also provided a top-quality Smooth Rock, crucial for the final success.
For this reason, Professor Harris included Ethan as a co-author of the study, officially making him a recognized researcher of the Sandstorm move and spreading his name even further within the academic community.
The birth of the first human method to teach a weather move marked a turning point: humanity had finally conquered the mystery of weather moves, an achievement of enormous impact for the advancement of Pokémon civilization.
It was, without a doubt, a historical milestone.
Meanwhile, Assistant Alex Baxter also benefited greatly, and along with his work on new evolution routes, rose to the rank of Advanced Pokémon Researcher.
However, the greatest beneficiary was still Ethan: his accumulated merits were now nearly at the level required for the title of Pokémon Professor.
(End of chapter)