"Hey, hey, brother, weren't you bragging earlier?"
"Didn't you say this Alakazam could go head-to-head with Captain Daniel's Breloom?"
"Then how is it that in the blink of an eye this Alakazam was taken out with a single blow? I don't see it being that strong at all."
That Ethan fan from before was now completely fired up. He looked at the student sitting beside him with disdain and mocked him without any restraint.
"Uh... uh..."
"C-could it be... that Big Brother Ethan is just too strong?"
The student was left speechless by the verbal assault and, after being stunned for quite a while, could only give that explanation.
"Exactly. It's not that Alakazam is weak, but that Ethan's Meltan is simply too strong."
"That's the Electromagnetic Cannon! The very same one that forced Captain Daniel's Breloom to retreat!"
"And what did I just see? That bastard Meltan can fire it consecutively! Who could possibly withstand something like that?!"
Upon seeing this scene, Marcus Foster couldn't help but curse. Just imagining his own Pokémon facing a barrage-fired Electromagnetic Cannon already made his scalp go numb.
"Besides how overwhelmingly powerful that barrage Electromagnetic Cannon is, the truly crucial point was that Alakazam's Teleport move was neutralized."
"If Alakazam had been able to maintain constant use of Teleport and rely on Psychic to carry out surprise attacks, it still would've had a chance to fight."
"And when this same Alakazam faced Captain Daniel's Breloom, it was precisely thanks to the two moves—Teleport and Psychic—that it managed to hold its own."
"Now that both have been completely countered by Meltan, it's no surprise that it lost."
"Moreover, this Alakazam's body is really far too fragile. Meltan's Electromagnetic Cannon was already a weakened version, yet even so, this Alakazam couldn't withstand even a single hit."
"Perhaps... that's also one of the reasons why its psychic power is so terrifying..."
Lucas Silver analyzed the entire course of the battle with remarkable accuracy. Even so, this Meltan had already grown to a truly frightening level.
"Alakazam has lost the ability to battle! The winner of this match is Meltan, and therefore, the final championship belongs to... Ironvale City Pokémon University!"
As the referee's voice echoed out, the entire stadium instantly erupted into deafening cheers.
"Good job, Meltan."
Listening to the applause around him, Ethan smiled faintly.
Meltan flew back to his side, exhaustion clearly written all over its face.
In this battle, Meltan endured attacks from the Psychic move and used the move Substitute a total of five times.
That's right, Meltan used Substitute five times.
The first use of Substitute was at the very start of the battle, when it used its Magnet Pull ability to break free from the restraint of the Psychic move.
The second through fifth uses of Substitute occurred after being struck by Psychic.
However, in the later uses of Substitute, Meltan did not choose to condense them into complete bodies. Instead, with minimal energy expenditure, it condensed them into several small steel balls.
That's right—those steel balls were actually formed from extremely tiny Meltan!
Although the substitutes were smaller, they were still capable of executing the Electromagnetic Cannon.
And precisely because of their reduced size, it became much easier for Meltan to use the Electromagnetic Cannon, allowing it to fire it in consecutive bursts.
Even so, Meltan's stamina had already reached its limit; at most, it could only use the Electromagnetic Cannon one or two more times.
"Zzzt!"
After hearing Ethan's words, Meltan let out a couple of cheerful sounds.
Although it was extremely tired, at that moment it felt very happy.
After so much effort, it had finally mastered the barrage-style Electromagnetic Cannon without any side effects.
"Go back and have a good rest."
Ethan smiled faintly, took out his Poké Ball, and recalled Meltan.
Then, he turned his gaze toward Alakazam, which was embedded in the protective wall in the distance.
"Earlier, this Alakazam clearly entered a state of paralysis, so it undoubtedly has the Inner Focus ability."
Recalling the battle, Ethan arrived at a clear conclusion. In fact, during the fight, once Meltan had locked onto the position where Alakazam would appear after using Teleport, it could have defeated it directly with a single Electromagnetic Cannon.
The use of Thunder Wave had been a deliberate order from Ethan to test Alakazam's ability.
"Moreover, this Alakazam's body seems surprisingly fragile. Under normal circumstances, even if Alakazam were struck by a weakened Electromagnetic Cannon, it shouldn't end up in such a miserable state."
Ethan continued to observe Alakazam's condition. Even while unconscious, its eyes remained wide open, which made it somewhat painful to look at.
"Wait... could it be that this Alakazam's development path is that...?"
Suddenly, Ethan thought of something, and his eyes lit up.
Wasn't this precisely the evolutionary path toward Mega Alakazam?
After Mega Evolution, Mega Alakazam converts all of its power into psychic energy, causing its muscles to completely lose their strength and forcing it to float in the air using psychic powers.
The stronger its mental power becomes, the weaker its body grows.
This Alakazam fit perfectly with the development route of Mega Alakazam.
This made Ethan recall Champion Leo Cross's Charizard. Wasn't the key to its overwhelming strength and temperature control ability precisely that its body housed the power of Mega Charizard Y?
"Alakazam... extremely strong psychic power... Inner Focus ability... Mega Alakazam..."
Ethan rubbed his head with a troubled expression. Lucario also possessed formidable psychic power and the Inner Focus ability, but how could he apply Mega Alakazam's development method to Lucario?
Moreover, the side effects of this development route were enormous. Just like Mega Alakazam, converting all bodily strength into psychic power would cause the muscles to completely lose their strength—something Ethan absolutely did not want to happen to Lucario.
For a moment, Ethan realized he was being a bit greedy: he wanted the benefits but didn't want to pay the price. Thinking it over, that didn't seem very realistic.
"Maybe I could start with life energy. Physical strength, to a certain extent, also represents life energy."
Ethan pondered internally, evaluating the feasibility of this plan.
If he could use life energy to replace physical strength and transform it into psychic power, perhaps he could avoid the side effect of completely losing muscular strength.
And moreover, by using life energy, perhaps he could even cure Lucario's congenital defect!
Then the question arose: how could Lucario master life energy?
One must know that life energy is a type of powerful energy that is in no way inferior to aura power.
(End of chapter)