"You five come out too."
After returning to the provisional laboratory, Ethan released Bulbasaur, Chikorita, Treecko, Turtwig, and Snivy.
After this period of raising, the five younglings had already been completely domesticated by Ethan, and they had also received some basic training under his guidance.
Now, once back at the provisional laboratory, Ethan planned to continue deepening their training, so that afterward, depending on their performance, he could decide which of them deserved priority raising.
"Ah, I almost forgot about you."
After releasing the five starters, Ethan also took out Metagross.
As soon as it came out, Metagross began observing its surroundings with great curiosity. Since it was the first time it was outside, everything felt new and interesting to it.
"That Metagross... Could it be that one from Ferraria City's Steel Secret Kingdom?"
Seeing the Metagross Ethan had released, Professor Reynolds was stunned for an instant.
"Do you know this Metagross, Professor Reynolds?"
Ethan first showed some surprise, but then immediately understood.
As an expert in Steel-type Pokémon, it was perfectly normal for Professor Reynolds to have visited the Steel Secret Kingdom before.
And therefore, there was nothing strange about her having encountered Metagross there.
"Yes, we already knew each other fairly well. Back then, I also thought about capturing it, but it insisted on staying to guard that cave and did not want to leave. That's why I didn't end up capturing it. Although every time I went to Ferraria City, I would stop by to see it."
Professor Reynolds nodded with a smile, and Metagross approached her familiarly so she could stroke its head.
"Guarding the cave?"
Ethan immediately understood the reason.
That Metagross had clearly been protecting Meltan's nut.
"Then, from now on, I'll leave Metagross in your care, Professor Reynolds."
Ethan had already planned to leave Metagross in Professor Reynolds's care.
And now that he saw the two of them already knew each other, nothing could be better.
After talking with Metagross for a while longer, Ethan and Professor Harris headed toward Sandslash's Secret Kingdom.
Now, the old quarry had been completely leveled, and all kinds of machines and Pokémon could be seen working on the land.
Thanks to the participation of Pokémon, much manual labor had been replaced, which had greatly increased the efficiency of the construction work.
Once at the quarry, Professor Harris did not stop for too long. He went directly toward the entrance of Sandslash's Secret Kingdom and entered inside.
After having seen how the Silver family opened the sealed iron door and released Registeel, Professor Harris was eager to inspect the situation of the sealed stone door.
He wanted to design, as soon as possible, a plan to open it based on their current conditions and thereby release Regirock, who remained sealed behind it.
"Ethan, you've arrived."
Alex, who was supervising the construction, approached happily upon seeing Ethan.
The current Alex had long since completed the Feebas evolution experiment and successfully become an Advanced-level Pokémon Researcher.
Upon learning that he could participate in a project like Ethan's life transition, he had been excited for a long time.
In any case, Alex had already decided to follow Ethan now. Following the strongest young trainer in the entire League, it was impossible for things to go badly for him.
"Yes, I just got back. Thank you for all the work with the laboratory."
Ethan greeted Alex with a smile. With Alex in charge of the laboratory, he felt completely at ease.
"What hard work?"
"On the contrary, I'm the one who should thank you for entrusting this project to my family."
Alex could not help rolling his eyes as he told Ethan not to be so formal.
"Well, then I won't be so polite. The Grass-type Pokémon I recently exchanged with the Holt family have already arrived. I want you to properly plan the town and design a viable rural tourism proposal."
Ethan also smiled and directly explained the reason he had come to find Alex.
"Yes, I already know. Ever since you mentioned it to me before, I also started thinking about it. I think your idea of creating a tourism company and allowing the villagers to contribute their land as shares is very viable."
"And regarding the rural tourism plan, I've already asked people to start designing it. But the truth is that the town's tourism resources are fairly limited. If it's only about regreening it and beautifying the environment, perhaps it won't have much of an advantage."
Alex thought for a moment before answering. Although he came from a business family, and now dedicated himself to the academic field, he still perfectly mastered everything related to business.
From a professional perspective, he began analyzing with Ethan the advantages and disadvantages of developing tourism in Stonefield Town.
"Then ordinary rural tourism doesn't have much of an advantage?"
Ethan frowned. According to what Alex was saying, that plan was not so viable?
Naturally, Ethan had thought of that tourism project to develop Stonefield Town and offer the villagers a stable source of income.
At the same time, he also needed to obtain profits from it, because both laboratory research and the training of his Pokémon required an enormous amount of resources.
But if the plan could not generate money, then there really would not be much point in continuing with it.
"In reality, the town does have a great advantage. If we know how to take advantage of it properly, your tourism plan for the town will undoubtedly succeed."
Seeing Ethan's worried expression, Alex let out a chuckle and suddenly spoke.
"A great advantage? What is it?"
Ethan's eyes instantly lit up, and he asked right away.
But Alex only smiled and did not answer, merely looking directly at Ethan.
"What advantage is that?"
"If there is something special, it can only be the laboratory, right?"
"But the laboratory cannot be opened to the public. On the contrary, it must be kept strictly confidential."
Ethan was so confused that his eyebrows nearly wrinkled completely, unable to guess what Alex was referring to.
"Heh, heh, in reality it's very simple: it's you."
Seeing Ethan's confused expression, Alex smiled.
"Me?"
Ethan was stunned again.
This time Alex did not continue keeping silent.
He suddenly took out a poster and handed it to Ethan.
"This is... a Pokémon Gym?"
Seeing the title on the poster's cover, Ethan raised an eyebrow.
Next, he directly took it and began reading carefully.
It turned out to be an official recruitment poster for Gym Leaders.
After the first phase of gym construction, the League had already managed to establish a large number of them in the main cities.
And now a second round of recruitment had begun.
This time, the recruitment was being carried out by urban regions.
In the Ironvale region, there were currently only eight gyms.
And in this new phase, they planned to add eight more!
That official Gym Leader recruitment poster had been published precisely by Ironvale City.
"Gym Leader?"
"You mean... build a gym in the town?"
After carefully reading the poster, Ethan immediately understood Alex's intention.
(End of chapter)