"Alright, let's go," Ethan said, snapping his fingers.
Vibrava flew behind him and released a force that gently lifted him into the air.
The others exchanged glances and nodded.
The two Salamence and the two Dragonite quickly rose into the sky and flew toward the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
Vibrava followed Thomas's Dragonite. Its control of the wind and the Levitate ability were activated to the maximum, taking advantage of the air currents generated by Dragonite's flight to easily remain in the air.
The sea wind roared endlessly.
But that was clearly not a problem for those pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
Both Salamence and Dragonite, being Flying-type, had excellent control over the wind.
As they flew steadily, they looked back to observe Ethan.
Although Vibrava had proven to be very strong in battle, that didn't necessarily mean it had good flying ability.
But when they saw him...
They were stunned.
Vibrava's flight was incredibly stable. It barely seemed to flap its wings, yet it always managed to follow them effortlessly.
Even Ethan, supported by Vibrava, took out a notebook and began reading, as if he weren't flying over the ocean but enjoying a vacation.
"What the hell...?"
"Isn't he way too relaxed?"
"Is this really okay?"
Seeing that Ethan had no difficulty at all, the dragon messengers could only smile bitterly.
That Vibrava's wind control ability seemed to surpass even that of their Pokémon. They had no idea how Ethan had trained it.
"It seems its flying ability is also very strong. Then let's accelerate. Let's try to reach the destination in two hours."
Soon they reached an agreement.
Dragonite and Salamence increased their speed to the maximum, slicing through the sky.
Behind them, Vibrava lightly flapped its wings and continued riding the air currents generated by Dragonite's flight.
"They want to speed up?"
"Vibrava, let's put in a little effort too."
After hearing Ethan's words, Vibrava cried out excitedly.
Flying-type energy gathered around its body and it used the move Tailwind.
Dragonite and Salamence were enveloped in the current of the move.
"Is that Tailwind...?"
"The effect is incredible! The speed increased by at least 50%!"
Feeling how their Pokémon's speed suddenly increased, the four once again looked at Vibrava in surprise.
At that moment, they no longer had any doubts about Ethan's strength, so they sped toward the target location at full speed.
In just over an hour, the five arrived at the point marked on the map.
"This is the place. The Rainbow Stone is reacting."
Thomas took out his rainbow stone pendant. Seeing the faint glow it emitted, he showed an excited expression.
That rainbow stone pendant had been condensed by the giant Dragonite, the lord of Dragon Valley. When Thomas received this dragon messenger mission, the giant Dragonite left a mark on the stone to guide them to the mission location.
"Let me find the passage to the Secret Kingdom."
One of the dragon messengers spoke, then released his Pokémon: Gothitelle.
After appearing, Gothitelle floated in the air with its black dress gently swaying. It closed its eyes and began sensing the surroundings.
Soon it opened them again; its eyes shone with a blue light as it looked toward the sky.
At that point, spatial ripples began to appear, and a passage to the Secret Kingdom slowly opened.
"I see," Ethan thought. "I remember that Gothitelle possesses the ability to distort the surrounding space. If it can open a passage to a Secret Kingdom, it must be thanks to that ability."
Inside, he couldn't help but praise the idea.
It seemed Meltan wasn't the only one capable of developing abilities to explore Secret Kingdom passages; the only question left was how wide Gothitelle's perception range was.
Soon, the Secret Kingdom was fully opened.
Seeing it, everyone quickly mounted their Pokémon and entered directly.
Their vision blurred for a moment and, when they regained awareness, they were already inside the Secret Kingdom.
"This Secret Kingdom seems to be... a large canyon."
Riding their Pokémon and rising into the air, they observed the terrain beneath their feet and quickly identified the place.
"Alright, now the exploration of the Secret Kingdom begins. The first step is to find the exit of the Secret Kingdom. After that, we will explore the area to locate the Dragon-type Pokémon living here. Finally, we must persuade those Dragon-type Pokémon to leave this Secret Kingdom and send them to Dragon Valley using Poké Balls."
Thomas began explaining the dragon messenger mission. Clearly, it wasn't the first time he had carried out such a task.
Ethan and the others immediately nodded and began discussing the details, dividing the exploration zones.
"Meltan, now it's up to you."
Everyone had their own method for searching within a Secret Kingdom. After separating slightly from the group, Ethan directly released Meltan.
"Zzzt!"
As soon as it came out of the Poké Ball, Meltan let out a surprised cry.
In the next moment, a strong magnetic force burst from its body, causing all the metallic objects Ethan carried to begin trembling.
"You're saying that there's a very powerful magnetic force in this canyon?"
Ethan fell silent for a moment before asking.
Meltan immediately nodded.
It also explained that this magnetic force felt very comfortable to it; if it absorbed it for a long time, it might even strengthen its own magnetism ability.
"That's perfect. Then you can focus on absorbing that magnetic energy."
Ethan felt pleased.
Many of Meltan's abilities had developed thanks to its magnetic properties. If that characteristic strengthened further, the power of many of its techniques would also increase.
After Meltan entered a state of absorbing magnetism, Ethan also released Charizard, Sandslash, Slowking, and Lucario.
In a wild and dangerous environment, the most important thing was to guarantee personal safety; that was also one of the basic rules of exploring Secret Kingdoms.
After making all the preparations, Ethan began exploring the depths of the canyon guided by Vibrava.
"That Pokémon is...?"
He had not gone far when he saw ahead of him a gray Pokémon shaped like a UFO.
"Magnezone... how can there be Magnezone in this place?"
Ethan was surprised and began recalling information about that Pokémon.
Magnezone evolves from Magneton when exposed to a special magnetic field, which reorganizes the molecular structure of Magneton.
"Special magnetic field... It seems this place has one."
A thought appeared in his mind.
He remembered several places in the Pokémon world known for having special magnetic fields: Mount Coronet in Sinnoh, the interior of Chargestone Cave in Unova, Route 13 in Kalos, New Mauville in Hoenn, and... Vast Poni Canyon in Alola.
"Vast Poni Canyon!"
"Could this Secret Kingdom be Vast Poni Canyon?"
He looked at the canyon walls around him and widened his eyes in surprise. But soon he took a deep breath to calm himself.
"Not necessarily... it could also be a special magnetic field that hasn't been discovered yet in the Pokémon world."
He knew that Secret Kingdoms related to the Alola region were extremely rare.
Alolan Pokémon were also very scarce in the real world; some species had not even been discovered yet.
"But if this really is Vast Poni Canyon... then a population of Kommo-o should exist here. If we manage to find one, we could probably confirm that this place is Vast Poni Canyon."
Ethan looked forward with anticipation.
Could it really be Vast Poni Canyon?
"Magnezz!"
While he was thinking, the Magnezone in the air had already locked onto him as a target.
Electricity flashed around its body and it fired the move Thunderbolt.
Charizard reacted immediately, launching the move Flamethrower.
Flamethrower crushed Thunderbolt and swept directly toward Magnezone.
BOOM!
Magnezone fell from the sky and was defeated with a single strike by Charizard.
"I'll bring it to Professor Reynolds. She'll definitely be very interested in it." Ethan took out a Poké Ball and captured Magnezone.
"It seems we should speed up the exploration. Lucario, use your aura."
Originally Ethan wanted to explore slowly so Meltan could have time to absorb the magnetic energy. But after considering the possibility that this place might be Vast Poni Canyon, he decided to accelerate the process.
(End of chapter)