"Ethan, this time you've once again made an enormous contribution to the academic world."
President Beckett looked at Ethan with some emotion. Ever since Ethan became a researcher, he had already achieved far too many accomplishments.
"It's what I should do, and besides, I've also gained a lot myself."
Ethan smiled and shook his head. Indeed, what he had gained was no small amount.
"Yes, you've long since become a core part of the guild."
President Beckett smiled faintly and then said, "Release your Lucario. I'll help you train it properly... oh, rather, study it thoroughly."
Hearing this, Ethan did not stand on ceremony and immediately released Lucario.
"President Beckett, but Lucario is clearly a Fighting- and Steel-type Pokémon."
Professor Reynolds, who did not know much about Lucario's situation, spoke from the side. In her opinion, although President Beckett was a Champion proficient in the Psychic type, Fighting and Steel were not exactly the types he excelled in.
"Lucario's situation is a bit special."
Ethan quickly explained Lucario's circumstances, leaving everyone astonished.
"Extremely powerful psychic force and the Inner Focus ability. According to what you're saying, Alakazam should also have the Inner Focus ability. And the development route of that trainer John Davis's Alakazam is indeed very interesting."
After that, President Beckett began discussing Lucario's training with Ethan. Ethan also explained the development method of John Davis's Alakazam, which caused President Beckett to fall into deep thought.
It was obvious that a Lucario that met both conditions could, to a certain extent, take Alakazam's training method as a reference.
However, the side effects of that kind of development were a problem that even President Beckett could not easily resolve.
"Come out, Alakazam."
During the discussion, President Beckett also released his own Alakazam.
Unfortunately, his Alakazam's ability was the hidden ability Magic Guard, not Inner Focus.
Even so, after hearing Ethan's idea of converting the body's physical strength into psychic power, President Beckett keenly sensed that this might truly help his Alakazam break through its bottleneck.
Therefore, President Beckett expressed his intention to try raising an Alakazam with the Inner Focus ability, and Ethan's Lucario, which also possessed that ability, would help to some extent with the experiments.
"Ethan, now I'm even starting to suspect that you did all of this on purpose. The goal was to get me to help you train Lucario."
After preliminarily defining the research topic, President Beckett reacted and stared intently at Ethan.
"Exactly like with Vibrava's natural vibration ability and the move Earthquake. You clearly wanted me to help train Vibrava, but you always found a reason that made it impossible for me to refuse."
Professor Harris chuckled softly from the side. Of course, they were only joking.
At their level, it was not easy at all to find a research topic that truly sparked interest.
All of Ethan's proposals were extremely appealing, and they could even help them achieve breakthroughs, making them impossible to turn down.
"Then I'll leave Lucario in President Beckett's hands."
Ethan scratched his head and smiled. Lucario's training plan had already been determined; what followed was the initial accumulation.
"Luucaarr!"
Lucario nodded firmly at Ethan.
After learning about its future training plan, Lucario knew that developing the Inner Focus ability was extremely important to it. It had to complete it!
Now Ethan had already paved the way; from this point on, everything would depend on its own effort.
During the period that followed, Ethan stayed at the main headquarters of the Pokémon Researchers' Guild, intensely training all of his Pokémon.
Until a notification forced him to bring that pleasant time to an end.
"The notice for the professional evaluation for Pokémon Hunter that I applied for is already out?"
"This is much faster than I imagined. There isn't even a preliminary screening phase, and it goes straight to the official evaluation stage?"
Ethan held the notification with some surprise. Then he recalled the contents of the preliminary screening phase, which basically consisted of a strength assessment and a political review.
As for the strength assessment, the basic requirement to participate was to be an Advanced-level trainer.
However, the Advanced level was only the minimum threshold to take part in the professional Pokémon Hunter evaluation. To pass it, it was still necessary to clear further assessments organized by the League.
Although the Pokémon Hunter rank and the trainer rank were two different systems—the hunter rank being similar to that of police or military—the trainer rank was divided into five levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, Elite, and Champion.
Because the number of Elites and Champions was limited—thirty Elites and only four Champions—many trainers, even with Elite-level strength, were unable to advance.
Moreover, due to the enormous gap in strength between Advanced-level trainers and Elite-level trainers, additional subdivisions were created.
For example, the Professional level was defined as an independent rank between Advanced-level and Elite-level trainers.
Likewise, there existed a group of trainers who already had the right to participate in the Elite Tournament but whose strength had not yet reached that level; these were called Quasi-Elite trainers.
Therefore, in the current League, the strength levels generally recognized by trainers were: beginner trainer, intermediate trainer, advanced trainer, professional trainer, Quasi-Elite trainer, Elite trainer, and Champion.
Evidently, according to the League's evaluation, Ethan's strength had already reached the Professional level, so for strong trainers recognized like him, the League could exempt that part of the assessment.
The other part, the political review, evaluated four aspects: morality, capability, diligence, and achievements.
As for this review, Ethan, as an Advanced-level Pokémon Researcher who had made outstanding contributions to Pokémon development for the League, had no issues at all.
Moreover, the rescue mission during the earthquake in Emberfall City added tremendous weight to his record. The role he played in that rescue was far too important, and that merit would never be erased.
(End of chapter)