At night, Ethan returned to Professor Harris's residence.
From afar, Ethan could already smell the aroma of food, and his heart couldn't help but warm a little.
When he opened the door, his gaze turned toward the kitchen, where he discovered Professor Harris and Professor Reynolds chatting animatedly while working busily.
Upon seeing Ethan enter, both reacted immediately, and Professor Reynolds's face flushed slightly.
"You're back. Dinner will be ready soon."
Professor Harris smiled naturally as he carried the dishes to the table.
Seeing this, Ethan hurried to help.
Very soon, the three of them sat down at the table to eat. At a glance, they truly looked like a family of three.
During the meal, the three of them naturally began talking about topics related to Pokémon, such as evolution, the research and application of moves, and so on. In particular, Rhydon's training plan gave Ethan a great deal of inspiration.
After a pleasant dinner, Ethan stood up to take his leave. Although Professor Harris and Professor Reynolds insisted several times that he stay, Ethan felt it was better not to disturb them.
After leaving Professor Harris's house, Ethan did not return immediately to his lodging, but instead headed to the material exchange point, intending to trade for some resources to prepare the training of several Pokémon.
Upon entering the exchange point, Ethan swept his gaze over all the available resources. What reassured him was that the red-and-purple Mega Stone was still there.
After observing for a while, he began selecting the resources he needed according to the situation of his Pokémon.
Originally, he thought his Pokémon researcher points would allow him to spend without worry, but after one round of exchanges, they were almost completely used up.
"It seems I'll have to delay going to pick up Metagross a bit..."
Ethan frowned slightly. If he withdrew those points as cash, it would indeed be enough to exchange for Metagross.
However, after thinking it over for a bit, he decided to convert the points into resources to further strengthen his Pokémon.
After all, Metagross's strength had only just reached the level of his main team. Even if he exchanged for it now, it wouldn't have a decisive impact on the upcoming competitions; it might not even get a chance to enter battle.
Therefore, using those resources to improve his main Pokémon and achieve breakthroughs in their strength would be far more beneficial for the competitions to come.
After completing the exchange, Ethan saw that it was still early and headed to the library to consult information and refine the training methods of several Pokémon.
After the conversations and guidance from President Beckett, Professor Harris, and Professor Reynolds, Ethan already had a general idea of how to raise several Pokémon. What remained was to continuously refine those methods.
...
The next day, Ethan retrieved all his Pokémon that were in the Secret Kingdom of the Sky.
Beside the lake where Gyarados and Feebas lived, a group of Pokémon lined up, looking at Ethan and the large pile of resources behind him with serious expressions.
"You've all seen it, right?"
"For your strength to increase, I spent an enormous amount of resources."
After hearing Ethan, the eyes of all the Pokémon lit up, looking expectantly at the mountain of resources.
"But..."
Suddenly, Ethan changed his tone, making all the Pokémon tense up.
Then he continued, "But I've thought of a method to distribute the resources. And that method is to decide the amount according to strength. The stronger Pokémon will obtain more resources, while the weaker ones will receive less."
Upon hearing this, the Pokémon trembled inwardly and began looking around, evaluating their companions.
Pokémon like Riolu and Litwick, who were weaker, immediately became nervous.
On the other hand, Pokémon like Meltan, Cacturne, Slowking, and Charizard, who were stronger, began to look eager to try.
"Therefore, I've decided to organize a competition for you. The rules will be the same as the ranking battles at the university: free challenges."
Ethan looked at the serious-faced Pokémon and began explaining the rules.
In this type of ranking battle, Pokémon with lower ranks can freely challenge anyone above them.
If the challenge fails, the ranking does not change; if it succeeds, the two Pokémon swap positions.
Thus, when there are no more challenges, the new ranking will be the final result. Ethan would use this list to decide the distribution of resources for each Pokémon over the next month.
"Have you understood the rules?" After explaining everything, Ethan looked at the Pokémon.
"Now I'll announce the initial ranking. You just need to challenge according to this order. But each of you will only have one chance to challenge, so think carefully before deciding, because there will be no regrets afterward."
After making sure several times that his Pokémon had truly understood, Ethan took out the ranking list he had already prepared.
Ranking:
First place: Sandslash.
Second place: Cacturne.
Third place: Slowking.
Fourth place: Shuckle.
Fifth place: Meltan.
Sixth place: Vibrava.
Seventh place: Absol.
Eighth place: Charizard.
Ninth place: Kingdra.
Tenth place: Riolu.
Eleventh place: Magmortar.
Twelfth place: Litwick.
Thirteenth place: Rhydon.
These thirteen Pokémon were all the Pokémon Ethan had captured so far.
It wasn't hard to notice that the order of the ranking corresponded exactly to the order in which they had been captured.
"Charrzz!"
"Shuck!"
"Viiibbrraa!"
"Zzzt!"
After hearing the list, several Pokémon shouted, indicating that they had understood.
They had no objections to Ethan ranking them according to the order of capture; what mattered would come next, when their true strength was revealed.
"Now, the competition officially begins. Who will be the first to challenge?"
Ethan smiled slightly, stepped aside, and left the field to the Pokémon.
"Rhhhydodnn!"
Ethan thought Charizard would be the first to challenge, but he didn't expect the one to step forward to be Rhydon, the newest member of the team.
Evidently, Rhydon was very dissatisfied with being placed last and couldn't wait to step out and issue a challenge.
(End of chapter)