The next day.
Ethan left the Bug-Catching Zone.
In the sky, Pidgeot's silhouette glided gracefully. At its side, a rope tied around its neck stretched out to the other end, where Vibrava was soaring through the air like a kite pulled by the wind.
With Pidgeot's steady flight, the rope grew taut, and Vibrava floated happily, letting itself be dragged along while occasionally flapping its wings.
Sometimes it even performed difficult aerial maneuvers—twisting, spinning, or diving in spirals before rising back up again.
Perhaps due to its strong affinity for the Flying type, ever since Trapinch had evolved into Vibrava, it had fallen completely in love with the feeling of flight.
That was why Ethan took time every day to bring it out flying, letting it enjoy the force of the wind and the freedom of the skies.
"Chaarrr!"
Charmander watched Vibrava soaring freely with longing in its eyes, stretching out its little claws as if it too wished to be embraced by the air.
"Viiibbrraa!"
Seeing that, Vibrava quickly flew toward Charmander. A faint wave of levitation surrounded the little dragon, lifting it clumsily into the air as it kicked and waved its arms in delight.
Ethan smiled as he watched them play, then closed his eyes and began reviewing in his mind the progress they had made in the past few days.
If he had to name the one with the greatest improvement, it was undoubtedly Sandslash.
After this period of training, Sandslash had completely mastered Swords Dance.
Ethan's next step was to refine the move according to Sandslash's own characteristics, striving to reach an effect similar to Bugsy's Scyther in the anime—swift and devastating.
After that, he could attempt to combine Swords Dance with Rapid Spin to achieve an even greater effect.
Furthermore, ever since Sandslash had mastered Swords Dance, Ethan had been trying to decode the theoretical training method behind the move, though he hadn't made much progress so far.
But aside from Sandslash, another Pokémon that had made tremendous progress was Shuckle.
Since fully developing its ability Gluttony, Shuckle had learned to rapidly boost its Grass-type energy by consuming large quantities of Berries—allowing it to handle Hidden Power with increasing proficiency.
Beyond that, Ethan had discovered something intriguing: whether due to Gluttony or its Grass-type energy, the juice Shuckle fermented inside its body seemed to contain a far more potent energy than before.
Even Ethan's other Pokémon confirmed it—the flavor and effect of the juice were noticeably superior.
This sparked Ethan's curiosity. If Shuckle could continue developing that ability, could it perhaps keep improving the quality of the juice it produced?
It was worth remembering that the market value of nutrient juices varied enormously depending on their quality.
The most common ones were the basic-level juices—cheap and affordable, even for beginner trainers.
However, those juices only had a visible effect on low-level Pokémon; for Ethan's team, they were practically useless.
The ones he usually used were of intermediate quality. In fact, the raw juice produced naturally inside Shuckle's body, even without processing, already reached that level.
Intermediate nutrient juices helped mid-level Pokémon recover energy quickly. Their price was high, and if Ethan hadn't recently obtained a large number of resources, he would hardly have been able to afford them.
But now, thanks to the effects of Gluttony or Hidden Power, the quality of Shuckle's raw juice had improved even further, nearing that of high-grade nutrient juices.
This kind of juice not only allowed advanced-level Pokémon to recover energy rapidly but also partially healed their injuries. On the market, juices of this caliber were extremely rare—their formulas and production methods tightly controlled by major corporations and elite universities.
Fortunately, as a student of Ironvale City's Pokémon University and a registered member of the Pokémon Researchers Guild with the rank of Advanced Researcher, Ethan could obtain such juices through point exchanges. Of course, the price was still exceedingly high.
If Shuckle could truly produce juices of that quality through its own abilities, Ethan would save a tremendous amount of resources.
"Looks like I'll have to look for Berries with special effects..." Ethan murmured.
"With Gluttony, Shuckle can fully absorb the special energies contained in the Berries, allowing its power to grow rapidly."
"Especially those that strengthen mental focus—they could help it develop its psychic energy even faster."
As he pondered, Ethan began to draft Shuckle's new training plan.
Time passed quickly as he thought.
In the blink of an eye, the buildings of Ironvale City's Pokémon University Intermediate Campus appeared before his eyes.
"All right, time to descend," Ethan said, smiling as he stroked Pidgeot's feathers.
"Piiddgg~!"
Pidgeot cried happily and descended smoothly, landing on the grassy field outside the university.
"Good work, Pidgeot."
Ethan smiled, taking out a bottle of nutrient juice and offering it to it.
Although that Pidgeot wasn't his own, as an official courier of the Sky Secret Kingdom, every trainer with permission to enter that Secret Kingdom was allowed to use a Pidgeot for transport.
In other words, it was like a public bus—you weren't its owner, but you had the right to use it.
Of course, during the period of use, Ethan had to take care of its feeding and maintenance, which over time became quite expensive.
That's why, once Vibrava evolved into Flygon, he planned to return Pidgeot to the Sky Secret Kingdom.
After storing Pidgeot back, Ethan picked up Charmander and grabbed the rope dangling from Vibrava's body, walking toward the university gates.
With each step, the rope tightened, and Vibrava floated above him like a giant helium balloon, gently swaying in the air.
"Viiibbrraa!" Vibrava squinted its eyes, moving its antennae to an imaginary rhythm.
"Ethan, you're finally back!" Marcus Foster exclaimed, hurrying toward him. "We're leaving for Duskwell City Pokémon University tomorrow for the exchange tournament. I thought you weren't going to make it in time."
Marcus looked at Ethan, then at Vibrava floating above him like a balloon, and his face filled with exasperation.
"Seriously... is this how you spoil your Pokémon?"
"Relax, can't you see I'm back?" Ethan replied with a grin before returning Vibrava to its Pokéball.
(End of Chapter)