A sleepless night.
The next morning, Alex Baxter woke Ethan Black up early. He told him he had finished his thesis the night before and planned to go that day to the Pokémon Researchers' Guild of Ironvale City to submit it.
Although Ethan Black was still very sleepy, he couldn't resist Alex Baxter's insistence. Reluctantly, he left his warm bed without even having breakfast, and they went straight to the Pokémon Researchers' Guild.
Sandslash: I'm hungry.
Soon, Alex Baxter drove to a huge building with the appearance of a museum.
Ethan Black looked up in awe: in his previous life, that place was the famous Ironvale City Museum. But now, it had been transformed into the Pokémon Researchers' Guild.
Upon entering the building, Alex Baxter went straight to the front desk, as if he knew the place well. He presented his Pokémon researcher ID and quickly explained the reason for his visit.
The staff looked at him in surprise, nodded, and picked up the desk phone to request authorization.
Meanwhile, Ethan Black, driven by curiosity, began to explore the place. On the first floor, the exhibition still resembled the old museum, displaying a wide variety of relics that represented the historical development of humanity.
Shortly after, the staff received approval and guided Ethan Black and Alex Baxter to the second floor of the Guild.
Unlike the first floor, the second already represented the true core of the Pokémon Researchers' Guild.
In addition to a large number of books about Pokémon, it also housed many relics discovered in the mysterious Secret Kingdoms, such as murals and ancient instruments, carefully arranged in display cases to reveal some of the secrets of those hidden worlds.
"These ancient machines..."
"Could those Secret Kingdoms really be the Pokémon world I remember?"
"But why would that world end up in such a state? Did it suffer some kind of catastrophe that destroyed it?"
Ethan Black narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, several conjectures crossing his mind.
Both the Pokémon Centers and the origin of the Devon Corporation gave hints in that direction.
"Huh? What's this..."
As he passed by a display case of relics, Ethan Black stopped abruptly.
Inside it lay a piece of golden amber that gave off a faint reddish glow.
"Could that be Old Amber!?"
When he managed to get a better look at the relic, Ethan Black's eyes widened, revealing an expression of disbelief.
In the Pokémon Special manga, Giovanni had unearthed an Old Amber in Diglett's Cave and gave it to Red.
Later, Red successfully revived an Aerodactyl in Professor Blaine's laboratory from that amber.
Also in the video games, Old Amber is a key item that allows the revival of an Aerodactyl, in museums like the Oreburgh Mining Museum, the Pewter Museum of Science, the Nacrene Museum, the Ambrette Fossil Lab, and the Devon Corporation.
"It really does seem to be Old Amber!"
"I never thought such a rare item would appear here, in the Pokémon Researchers' Guild of Ironvale City."
"But it's likely that, just like with the Protector item, the Guild doesn't know its true use and has simply classified it as a valuable relic."
"Besides, even if they did know its function, without a fossil revival machine they wouldn't be able to revive an Aerodactyl."
Ethan Black's eyes gleamed for a moment. Although it was a rare item, at the moment it had no use—unless they found a fossil resurrection machine.
"Ethan, come quick!"
Alex Baxter's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
...
"Hahaha! Brother, you're incredible."
"This is your payment for the article: three hundred thousand. And these other three hundred thousand are my personal thanks. As always, it's been a pleasure working with you!"
As they left the Guild, Alex Baxter handed Ethan Black two bank cards with a smile, his expression full of respect and admiration.
"I just gave you some advice. The work was yours."
"But I won't lie, I won't turn down the money. I already have two Pokémon and training them costs quite a bit."
Ethan Black happily accepted the cards. Alex Baxter wanted prestige, and he wanted money. A pretty fair deal.
"Hehe, brother, don't you have another research topic lying around?"
"If we manage a couple more like this, I'll soon be able to advance to intermediate-level Pokémon researcher!"
Alex Baxter's eyes shone with excitement.
"Now that you mention it, I do have one. But I warn you, for now it's just a hypothesis. Carrying it out won't be easy at all."
At Alex Baxter's question, Ethan Black's eyes narrowed.
"You really have one? Tell me!" said Alex Baxter eagerly.
"The topic is: combining the moves Rollout and Rapid Spin."
"During battles, I've already made Sandslash use something similar."
"But that combined move used a kind of stage-based momentum; it wasn't a complete combo move. So my idea is..."
Ethan Black explained his theory: starting from the principle of combining the moves Defense Curl and Rollout, replacing Defense Curl with Rapid Spin, which would combine with Rollout to create a new combo move: Spin Drive.
Upon hearing it, Alex Baxter's eyes lit up.
"From the way you describe it, it sounds viable!"
"But to make it a reality, we first need to research more deeply how the moves Defense Curl and Rollout actually work."
After thinking for a moment, Alex Baxter frowned. Though the idea was promising, studying it thoroughly wouldn't be easy.
Moreover, it was still only a theory. Even Sandslash hadn't mastered it yet, so there was no guarantee of success.
If it failed, all the effort could be wasted.
"We can start with a small goal: study in depth the principles of transition between Defense Curl and Rollout."
"As for the combined move, Spin Drive, leave it to me and Sandslash. I plan to start by developing his multitasking ability, and once he masters it, begin training the combined move."
Ethan Black proposed an intermediate strategy.
"That sounds good. To be honest, when I wrote the article on the principles of Defense Curl and Rollout, I already researched quite a lot on that subject."
Upon hearing Ethan Black, Alex Baxter perked up. He pulled out his notebook and began showing him the information he had gathered.
(End of chapter)