"Riolu, you've already worked extremely hard."
Ethan looked at Riolu, enveloped by the move Smog, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
This time, he had sent Riolu out mainly to train it and allow it to experience the feeling of a real battle; as for whether it won or not, honestly, he had never considered that.
"Riou!"
Within the area of effect of the move Smog, Riolu seemed to suddenly sense something and turned its head.
Thanks to aura perception, it could feel Ethan's state of mind.
It gently closed its eyes and began to recall every scene it had experienced together with Ethan during this time, and a smile slowly appeared at the corner of its mouth.
"What a pity, it seems that in the end Riolu is still lacking a bit to win."
"If Riolu could evolve into Lucario, then, relying on the Steel type to nullify Poison-type moves, maybe there would still be some chance."
"Yes, but even so, this Riolu is already incredibly strong. Without a doubt, it's the most powerful Riolu I've ever seen."
"Exactly, the strongest thing about senior Max's Gengar is its control over Poison-type energy. Forcing senior Max's Gengar to use Smog... this Riolu is really way too strong!"
Below the stage, the spectators began to discuss animatedly, and almost all of them were expressing praise for Riolu.
"Wait, damn it..."
"That light... could it be...?"
At that moment, a spectator suddenly shouted.
Immediately afterward, within the purple mist, a dazzling white light suddenly burst forth, piercing straight through the dense violet fog.
"The... the light of evolution!"
In the next instant, the entire venue erupted in exclamations.
In the participant area, Lucas Silver jumped to his feet upon seeing this scene.
Riolu's evolution had remained, up to this day, a complete mystery.
Under normal conditions, making Riolu evolve was extremely difficult.
Yet now, right before his eyes, Riolu had evolved!
"So it finally evolved?"
"It seems that the affinity between Riolu and me has already been sufficient."
Ethan smiled faintly as he watched and lifted his gaze toward the sun in the sky, a smile on his face.
The conditions for Riolu to evolve are two: Friendship above 220 and it must be daytime.
Now, both conditions had been fully met, and Riolu had begun its evolution.
Little by little, the white light dispersed the move Smog, and sunlight once again covered the field.
When the white light gradually faded away, a Pokémon appeared on the stage with an appearance similar to Riolu's, but taller, exceeding one meter in height.
"It's appeared, it's Lucario!"
"That Riolu has successfully evolved into Lucario!"
Upon seeing the figure on the field, the spectators once again exclaimed in surprise.
"It really evolved... Lucario."
At that moment, Lucas murmured those words, his eyes wide open.
When he had handed Riolu over to Ethan, he had done so only with a try-your-luck mentality. But he never imagined that Ethan would actually succeed in making Riolu evolve—and moreover, a Riolu with physical defects!
Now, all of a sudden, he felt a bit of regret.
Back then, when they decided to give Ethan this Riolu with physical defects, they had never imagined that he would be able to make it evolve.
If they had known that Ethan could truly achieve Riolu's evolution, they would undoubtedly have given him one with exceptional talent; if that had been the case...
"Sigh, now I don't even know how to bring it up. It seems I'll have to talk properly with Ethan later."
Lucas sighed softly, beginning to organize in his mind what he would say next.
"Hah, truly worthy of being an Advanced-level researcher in the field of Pokémon evolution. Perhaps another secret of Pokémon evolution is about to be revealed by him."
The university professors looked at each other at that moment and shook their heads helplessly.
Among them were many well-known experts and professors, and yet they were about to be surpassed by a young man barely twenty years old.
An elite-level Pokémon researcher at twenty years old, or even a Pokémon Professor... everything seemed so unreal.
"Riolu... now I should call you Lucario. Congratulations."
Ethan met the gaze of the now-evolved Riolu, and both of them smiled.
"Then let's go! Let me see the strength you've gained after evolving!"
After hearing Ethan's words, Lucario nodded and directed its gaze toward the Gengar floating in the air.
"It really evolved into Lucario!"
Seeing that Riolu had successfully evolved, Max's face became extremely unpleasant.
It should be known that his Gengar followed a Poison-type route, while Lucario was Fighting and Steel type—completely countering it in terms of attributes!
"Damn it! Even if it's evolved, so what! Gengar, use Shadow Ball!"
With Max's order, Gengar was seen raising its hand and condensing a huge dark sphere.
On the other side, Ethan did not give any order, instead letting Lucario act on its own; he wanted to see what new moves it had comprehended after evolving.
"Luucaarr!"
Lucario gently closed its eyes to sense it.
Then it suddenly opened them, and Ghost-type energy began to gather in the palm of its hand. To Ethan's astonished gaze, the move Shadow Ball condensed there.
After the Shadow Ball formed, Lucario's other hand suddenly pressed against it. With a surge of energy pouring into the sphere, the dark ball rapidly grew, doubling in size in an instant, while a terrifying energy expanded around it.
In the next instant, Gengar and Lucario simultaneously fired the move Shadow Ball. In the air, the two spheres collided with each other and, after a brief struggle, dissipated each other.
"This is... Shadow Ball and the move Helping Hand?"
Ethan's eyes lit up. Although it was Lucario's first time using the move Shadow Ball, with the effect of the move Helping Hand, it had managed to neutralize the rival Gengar's Shadow Ball.
It seemed that after evolving into Lucario, its powerful innate mental strength was finally showing its full potential thanks to its excellent special attack.
"Damn it, that move... it's Helping Hand!"
Max's expression changed. Although Lucario had just mastered the move Shadow Ball and its power was not yet very high, with the power boost from the move Helping Hand, it had reached such a strong level.
Of course, Gengar's Shadow Ball did not follow a purely offensive route.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A succession of whistling sounds rang out in the air as Gengar once again condensed several dark spheres in its hands and rapidly fired them toward Lucario.
Seeing this, a blue flash shone in Lucario's eyes, and it once again used the move Detect, swiftly moving across the field and dodging all the attacks.
However, while Lucario was dodging the attacks, ghostly flames suddenly appeared around its body one after another, completely enveloping it.
(End of chapter)