"It's been a long time, Tyranitar!"
Seeing the silhouette emerging from the sandstorm, Ethan smiled faintly.
"Tyran!"
Tyranitar's gaze turned serious, and with a certain degree of caution, it observed Charizard, Meltan, and the others.
It could clearly feel that, at this moment, both Charizard and Meltan were radiating a terrifying presence that was not inferior to its own in the slightest.
This made Tyranitar's heart tremble. One had to remember that in the past, Ethan had needed to rely on the combined attack of many Pokémon in order to defeat it, and now, all of a sudden, two Pokémon capable of confronting it directly had appeared.
During this time, Tyranitar had not been lazy at all. Although it had made tremendous progress, the growth of those Pokémon seemed to have been even greater.
"What's wrong? Aren't you going to welcome me?" Ethan asked with a faint smile, meeting Tyranitar's gaze.
At the same time, Vibrava and Meltan floated slightly forward, positioning themselves in front of Ethan.
After a brief moment of tension, Tyranitar nodded toward Ethan, then turned around and walked in the direction of the desert ruins.
"Let's follow it," Ethan said, gently patting Charizard on the back.
Very soon, guided by Tyranitar, they arrived in front of the desert ruins.
Upon entering the passageway, Ethan recalled Charizard into its Poké Ball.
Then he took out other Poké Balls and released Sandslash, Shuckle, and Litwick.
Vibrava also floated over to position itself behind Ethan, gently supporting him and carrying him deeper into the tunnel.
Throughout the entire journey, Tyranitar remained extremely silent. Accompanied by the heavy sound of its footsteps, Ethan and his Pokémon entered the cave.
"Back here again..."
Ethan looked around, and suddenly, upon seeing a large pile of Smooth Rocks stacked in one corner of the cave, his eyes lit up.
Evidently, those were the Smooth Rocks that Tyranitar had promised to give him. That was the agreement Ethan had reached with it before leaving the Secret Kingdom.
"Charizard, Rhydon, you two come out as well," Ethan said.
Immediately afterward, he released Charizard and Rhydon.
Seven Pokémon gathered inside the cave, and yet it did not feel crowded at all.
During this time, thanks to Tyranitar's constant excavation, the cave had expanded considerably.
When Ethan released all of his Pokémon, Tyranitar's pupils contracted once more.
After observing them carefully, it discovered that, aside from Shuckle, the other six Pokémon present each emitted a pressure that was not inferior to its own.
"Thank you for your hard work, Tyranitar. During this period of time, I'll let my Pokémon train here. I'll have to trouble you a bit more."
Upon hearing Ethan's words, a thoughtful expression appeared in Tyranitar's eyes.
Then it nodded and, on its own, went to lie down in a corner of the cave.
Its attitude was very clear: do whatever you want, there's no need to worry about me. However, its flickering eyes continued to observe Ethan, with a strange glint in them.
After obtaining Tyranitar's approval, Ethan led his Pokémon to the pile of Smooth Rocks.
"During the next period of time, you'll train here. These are Smooth Rocks. During this time, you can directly absorb the energy contained within them to increase your strength. In addition, while absorbing the energy of the Smooth Rocks, you'll also have a task: to train the move Sandstorm."
Ethan pointed at the pile of Smooth Rocks, which looked like a small mountain, as he spoke to his Pokémon. Upon hearing that all those rocks belonged to them, Sandslash, Shuckle, Vibrava, and Rhydon began shouting excitedly.
On the other hand, Charizard and Litwick blinked, somewhat confused. They were neither Rock-type nor Ground-type Pokémon, so they could not absorb those Smooth Rocks.
"I'll assign other tasks to the two of you later," Ethan said with a smile to reassure them, before turning his gaze back to the other four Pokémon.
In fact, the main purpose of this trip to the desert's Secret Kingdom was to train those four Pokémon, focusing on mastering sandstorm-based weather.
According to Professor Harris's method for learning the move Sandstorm, one first needed to master the power of the sandstorm, and only then could the move be learned.
Pokémon like Sandslash and Cacturne had learned the move Sandstorm in this way.
Although Shuckle, Vibrava, and Rhydon did not possess abilities related to sandstorm weather, nor did they inherently command that power, there was an enormous quantity of Smooth Rocks here.
With so many rocks, it was to be expected that sandstorm power would be generated within their bodies. In that case, learning the move Sandstorm would not be too difficult.
After listening carefully to Ethan's instructions, the four Pokémon cheered and quickly ran toward the small mountain formed by the Smooth Rocks, beginning to absorb their energy.
This was the first phase of their training. Once they finished absorbing the energy of the Smooth Rocks, Ethan would begin the second phase.
"Littwwiikk!"
"Charrzz!"
After arranging the training for the four Pokémon, Charizard and Litwick looked at Ethan with eyes full of anticipation.
"Litwick, come here for a moment," Ethan said, gesturing to it.
He then quickly walked over to the stone door engraved with the image of Regirock and covered in mysterious ancient characters.
"Litwick, use your ability as a Ghost-type Pokémon to pass through walls and try to see if you can enter behind the stone door."
Litwick nodded and floated toward the door. To Ethan's astonishment, Litwick actually passed through the stone door!
Suddenly, Litwick's figure jumped back out from the door, its gaze unfocused and its expression clearly frightened.
"Litwick, what's behind the stone door?" Ethan asked quickly, his eyes full of anticipation.
Litwick calmed down a little, then shook its head.
"I see... you still couldn't pass through it completely?"
Ethan pondered slightly. According to what Litwick had conveyed, when it entered the stone door, it was blocked by something and could not pass through it entirely.
However, at the instant it entered, it felt a terrifying pressure coming from the other side of the door, which proved that there truly was something behind it.
Ethan's eyes lit up. If he was not mistaken, it was very likely that behind the stone door was indeed Regirock!
"It seems I have to find a way to decipher those ancient characters as soon as possible... Regirock!"
After taking a deep breath, Ethan thought to himself that now that he knew something might truly exist behind the door, his desire to open it had become even more urgent.
After Litwick tried several more times without success, Ethan gave up. Then, together with Litwick and Charizard, he left the cave and returned to the exterior of the desert ruins.
(End of chapter)