"You two have worked hard during this time."
Ethan stroked Shuckle and Litwick while smiling.
Within his team, it was very difficult for those two Pokémon to reach the Elite level.
Now, both had found the fields they were good at and could live happily. That also made Ethan feel very satisfied.
He did not raise Pokémon solely to make them stronger, but to allow them to complete their own goals.
"Littwwiikk!"
"Shuck!"
The two Pokémon responded very happily.
After communicating with them for a while, Ethan went over to greet Professor Harris and the others.
Seeing their faces full of smiles, it seemed they had discovered something new.
"Life energy is truly marvelous."
Alex sighed emotionally while continuing to take notes.
"Ethan, you arrived just in time."
"Some time ago, the research on Totem Pokémon at the guild headquarters encountered some problems."
"Among them were issues related to life energy, and just recently we also made some discoveries regarding that."
"We have already organized this data. Help us take it to headquarters."
Seeing Ethan arrive, Professor Harris spoke directly.
"Alright, understood."
"I also happen to need to go to headquarters to see Sandslash. Besides, I have some matters to resolve."
Ethan immediately accepted and received the documents Professor Harris handed him.
After that, he chatted a little more with his Pokémon and left the institute.
This time, after going to guild headquarters, he also planned to make another trip to Dragon Valley.
Then he would find a way to take Totem Kommo-o from there, so that his Dark Kommo-o could also become a Totem Pokémon.
The sooner it became a Totem Pokémon, the sooner Kommo-o's power could be developed and prepared to condense its Totem aura.
...
The next day, Ethan left Solaria Town.
This time, before leaving, he also left Lucario there to cooperate with the research.
Now, among the Pokémon he carried with him were Melmetal, Charizard, Flygon, Garchomp, and Kommo-o.
He had also assigned short-term training tasks to the other Pokémon. Everything was progressing in an orderly manner.
High in the air, Ethan rode on Flygon.
After Vibrava evolved into Flygon, he could finally use it as a mount.
Flying through the sky, relying on Flygon's Levitate ability and its control of air currents, the journey was so comfortable it was hard to describe.
In addition, after obtaining the ability to generate and manipulate air currents, Flygon's speed was also very high.
Starting from Solaria Town, it did not take long before they arrived near the Secret Kingdom of the Sky, directly crossing the Secret Kingdom passage to enter it.
They flew directly toward the Totem Pokémon research laboratory.
From far away, the nearly four-meter figure of Totem Sandslash was especially eye-catching.
"Sha!"
Sandslash also discovered Ethan at that moment and immediately cried out excitedly.
"How have you been feeling lately?"
Arriving in front of Sandslash, Ethan asked with a smile.
"Sha!"
Sandslash nodded. At the same time, a faint halo appeared over its body.
That was precisely the use of the Totem aura.
Although Sandslash's current use of the Totem aura had not yet reached a complete level, it was already much stronger than before.
"Ethan, you're here."
President Beckett came out of the laboratory and, seeing Ethan, showed a smile.
"Greetings, President."
Ethan bowed and then handed President Beckett the life energy data Professor Harris had asked him to bring.
"Research on life energy. This truly helps us a lot."
President Beckett opened the documents, reviewed them for a moment, and smiled.
Afterward, the two chatted for a while. Then President Beckett returned to the laboratory again.
From the look of him, it seemed he intended to study the data sent by Professor Harris to overcome the problem they had encountered before.
Seeing this, Ethan did not interrupt him.
He called Sandslash to one side and began to check the results of its training during this time.
In addition, he also released Flygon so it could fight against Sandslash.
The current Flygon was no longer the same as before. During the battle, both Pokémon were evenly matched.
At first, the two Pokémon competed using abilities, but in the end the battle evolved toward control of the sandstorm.
Through the secondary development of the move Defense Curl, Sandslash controlled the sand around its body, transforming it into a spherical sandstorm field that enveloped it. In addition, that field had been reinforced once again by the Totem aura.
Flygon, for its part, directly used its control of air currents to make the sandstorm form a sandy wind dragon. The huge figures of both clashed intensely, with neither able to easily overpower the other.
In the end, Flygon relied on its mastery of air currents and managed to make the spherical sandstorm around Sandslash directly disintegrate.
Upon reaching that point, the two Pokémon did not continue battling.
However, although Flygon was superior in controlling the sandstorm, Sandslash, when using the combined move Spin Drive, was still not an opponent the current Flygon could easily defeat.
After the battle ended, Sandslash seemed to be somewhat affected. It plunged headfirst into the laboratory and began even stricter practice.
Seeing this, Ethan smiled slightly. Then he once again explained some training details to Sandslash and, afterward, left guild headquarters with five Pokémon.
Before leaving, President Beckett also accepted Ethan's request.
As long as Ethan could find the Totem form of the corresponding Pokémon, they could help him extract the appropriate Totem genetic medicine.
With President Beckett's affirmation, Ethan directly mounted Flygon and headed to Dragon Valley, where he found Totem Kommo-o.
And the method to convince Totem Kommo-o was also very simple: Ethan had his own Dark Kommo-o come out directly to battle.
In this battle, although Dark Kommo-o was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of physical condition, relying on its own combat techniques and the extreme enhancement route of the move Autotomize plus the move Belly Drum, it struck Totem Kommo-o until it was completely confused, and in the end, the latter suffered an overwhelming defeat.
All the Kommo-o present witnessed Dark Kommo-o's terrifying strength and were stunned. In such a short time, their companion had become so strong!
After the defeat, Ethan then explained the purpose of his visit and promised benefits to make Totem Kommo-o stronger.
In the end, just as Ethan had expected, the Kommo-o species had a very intense obsession with becoming stronger. With their Dragon and Fighting types, they were Pokémon born completely for battle.
Faced with the benefits Ethan promised it in exchange for cooperating and becoming stronger, it accepted without even thinking!
After obtaining Totem Kommo-o's approval, Ethan took Totem Kommo-o with him without any problems. Then he returned directly to guild headquarters, intending to have President Beckett and the others help him extract the Totem serum from Totem Kommo-o's body.
(End of chapter)